Day of the Eagle
by Ocelot014
Summary: A 15 year old secret agent, working for the UN... A supercomputer of immense power, housing an AI bent on world domination... Four teens determined to stop him... This is the world of Code: Lyoko, Day of the Eagle. T for violence and language.
1. Opening Infiltration: Prologue

**(Prologue-Beg the Question)**

_United Nations Security Council Chambers  
UN Headquarters, __New York  
18 months ago…_

"…and the findings of this hearing conclude that despite the ultimate failure of his mission, the Lieutenant's action's were exemplary, rescuing five hostages before securing his own escape." the representative from Great Britain announced, "It is the opinion of this council that Lieutenant Thomas James Walker be promoted to Captain of the United Nations Armed Security Forces and that he receive an official commendation for his valor in combat."

"Thank you, Mr. Ambassador." replied the American representative, "This hearing is adjourned." And just like that, with a slam of a gavel, it hit him.

_Captain?_ Thought Tom. _They made me a _captain_? Jesus, I'm not even 15 yet! Why in God's name would they make me a _captain_! Especially after the Rael fiasco…_

A tap on the shoulder brought Tom back to reality. Looking up, he saw the Major looking down at him.

"Something the matter, kiddo?" asked the Major, "You look a little confused."

"I just don't get it, sir." replied Tom.

"You mean why you got promoted despite failing the mission?"

"Exactly. The man I was supposed to protect _died_ back there—"

"And you saved five more. You were a true hero. Combine that with your already stellar record, and it was a no-brainer."

"But Ambassador Townsend—"

"Look, kid, someday you'll realize that the success or failure of a mission can be mitigated by doing the right or wrong thing. If you had tried to save Ambassador Townsend, you would've gotten captured again, or killed. And those five hostages would still be in the hands of those rebels. Instead, you all are alive and free, and they owe their lives to you."

Tom looked at the ground. "I still failed."

The Major patted Tom on the shoulder. "Like I said, Tom, it may take a while, but someday you'll see that what I'm saying is true..."

**(Chapter One-Operation: Lone Eagle)**

_Somewhere over __Northern France__  
1955 hours  
18 months later…_

Captain Walker closed his eyes, put his head against the C-130's vibrating bulkhead, and wondered just what the hell he was doing here.

"Just a routine HALO jump." The Major had said. "Nothing you haven't done before." And that was true. Over his five years in active service to the United Nations, Tom had made three successful High-Altitude-Low-Opening jumps without serious injury. The only difference was that then he was dropping onto wide open plains either in training or over hostile territory, not aiming for a small forest clearing in an allied country.

_They have to spend all of that money somehow, I suppose_ thought Tom. It also was an inordinate risk, a chance to fail the mission long before it got started. He could see the need for security for this operation, but this was just ridiculous. _Hell,_ he thought, _what's more ridiculous is that I will have made four jumps by the time I'm 16…_

"Five minutes!" the crew chief shouted over the din of the engines, snapping Tom out of his reverie.

_Okay, let's get it on._ Tom stood up, snapped his flight helmet on, and did a final check of all of his gear while the chief opened the plane's rear hatch. The cabin suddenly got cold as the high altitude wind rushed to fill the pressure imbalance between the plane and the air outside.

"One minute!" the chief shouted. A large light to the left of Tom's head glowed red. He turned to face the rear of the plane, and his gaze fell on the sea of green forest below. He just hoped to God the GPS put him down in the clearing, and not snagged in one of the massive oak trees surrounding it.

The light went green. "Hey, buddy!" The chief shouted, "Don't miss!"

"Don't worry!" Tom yelled back, "I won't." And with a deep breath, Tom hurled himself out of the plane.

_Forest Clearing  
Boulogne-Billancourt, Northern France  
2001 hours._

Murphy's Law, they say, states that everything that could possibly go wrong, will. For most people that can be an ordinate risk, but when falling tens of thousands of feet at a velocity of over 100 knots, there is absolutely zero tolerance for error. That is why gear was triple-checked, weather conditions verified several times, and the drop zone was checked visually by the pilot just prior to a jump, all to ensure Murphy's Law was broken.

So it was needless to say that a GPS calibration error sent Tom 8 meters short of his target, crashing through a copse of saplings before finally rolling to a rest at the clearing's edge.

"Perfect." Tom mumbled, pulling the flight mask and helmet off his head. "Just fucking great."

He checked his injuries and noticed that aside from a few minor cuts and bruises, he was ok. He looked back at the path of small destroyed trees, and thanked his lucky stars that he was smart enough to tuck himself up after releasing the main chute, which hung from the branches of a small tree a few meters away.

Collecting his chute, Tom mentally reviewed his immediate objectives. _Okay, _he thought,_ time to find the UN bunker and call it a night._ After recalibrating the GPS once again, Tom set off towards the South, making his way stealthily through the night forest. About 50 meters from his LZ, Tom came across a wide path; probably wide enough to be a road should someone pave it, snaking its way westward. _And, if the SAT photos were right, straight to the factory. The bunker's close_, he mused.

_UN Bunker ESL-117  
Boulogne-Billancourt, Northern France  
2016 hours_

Tom slid down the ladder and shut the manhole cover behind him. Flicking on his combat flashlight, he made his way down a narrow corridor. After about three steps, the lights flashed on around him, his eyes hurting as they quickly adjusted to the sudden change in light. Another five meters brought him to a thick, biometrically accessed door. While he waited for the door's internal computer to verify that he was, in fact, Captain Thomas James Walker, Spartan number 014, he hoped the bunker would be everything the Major promised him it would.

Located just 10 meters from the path he had stumbled upon earlier, the Major had assured Tom that with all of the money from the back membership dues of several countries, as well as through the UN's own money gathering services, the new bunker would be state of the art. Built in secret, the bunker would contain communications gear, emergency supplies and enough confiscated weaponry to keep any UN mission happy.

Needless to say that despite the previous assurance, Tom was impressed when the security protocols finally cleared him through and opened the door. It was exactly how the Major had described it, and Tom whistled at the load of weaponry that the UN had confiscated from smugglers, arms dealers and warlords throughout the world only to be repurposed for UN usage. Pistols, mortars, grenades, assault rifles of varying makes (Tom smiled, noticing the plethora of AK rifles and ammo), shotguns, all of it. A lone RPG-7 launcher hung just below an American Stinger Missile system and above several disposable LAW rockets.

Tom just hoped he'd get to use some of that arsenal again while he was here. After all, he was trained to use all of it. He sighed as he undressed and crawled into the sleeping bag placed atop a large cot. He rested his head against the pillow and sighed again. He'd just completed the easy part. He was there. The mission truly began in earnest tomorrow. He closed his eyes, and reviewed the mission particulars before finally dozing off.

_UN science programs have detected temporal anomalies emanating from this area in the Boulogne-Billancourt region of Northern France. A supposedly abandoned Renault factory is speculated to be the source._

_After dispatching UN recon teams, Intelligence has determined that four students at the local __Kadic__ International__ Academy__, named Jeremy Belpois, Odd Della Robia, Yumi Ishiyama, and Ulirch Stern, are somehow involved with the anomalies. See attached files for personal information._

_UN Special Forces' mission is twofold: to ascertain the intentions of above persons and aid them if intentions are friendly, and ascertain the source of temporal anomalies and bring it under UN control._

_UN Special Forces recommends Capt. Thomas J. Walker, code name Spartan-014, due to his close age proximity to subjects as well as to his proficiency in espionage, investigation and persuasion. _

_UNESCO will establish said agent under an assumed identity of a student at the academy in question. Special arrangements have been made with school superintendent Jean-Pierre Delmas along with French investigative authorities in the area allowing __Walker__ to more easily associate with subjects as well as to provide important intelligence to __Walker__ concerning the mission._

_This mission has been sanctioned by one or more permanent members of the UN Security Council based on the consensus that this anomaly represents the clear and distinct possibility of a breach of the peace as determined by Chapter VII of the UN charter. The use of deadly force is authorized at the agent's discretion for this mission._

* * *


	2. Author's Introduction

Author's Introduction

_A 15 year old secret agent, working for the UN..._

_A supercomputer of immense power, housing an AI bent on world domination..._

_Four teens determined to stop him... _

_This is the world of Code: Lyoko, Day of the Eagle _

**Hi folks!  
This is an idea I've had kicking around since I first saw the show in 2004, and I finally got around to actually writing it down. The story primarily follows the series' own story arc with a few modifications thrown in, an increase in the character's median age and grade, for example, and is set at the start of the first season, ostensibly several weeks after Jeremy's discovery of the supercomputer. Each episode also begins with a flashback, providing a bit more background on my original character, Tom. In effect, you're getting two stories in one!**

** It is important to note that while I have drawn inspiration from numerous places, such as Halo, 24, and the MGS series, I do not own any of them, or any other products/brand names I mention. Code: Lyoko is owned by Moonscoop. Thomas James Walker, however, is owned by myself.**

**Thanks for reading, and as always, if you enjoyed reading my story half as much as I did writing it, I still enjoyed it twice as much as you…**

* * *

_I saw a light, just up ahead  
But I couldn't seem to rise up from my bed.  
I'm not alone, and then I am.  
People seem to think I'm "Superman."_

_But I watch for the love,  
I'm livin' in the day of the eagle,  
The eagle, not the dove._

_It's like a wave that brings me down.  
If I don't move, I'm on the ground.  
It's in my mind! It's in my soul!  
It's telling me the things I can't be told._

_It says, "Watch for the love.  
Livin in the day of the eagle,  
The eagle, not the dove."_

_Another day, another night,  
I wanna love, they want to fight.  
I need the time, I've got to be alone  
I've got to save a lover on my own_

_I watch for the love.  
Livin' in the day of the eagle,  
The eagle, not the dove._

-Day of the Eagle  
Robin Trower

Article 39

The Security Council shall determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security.

Article 41

The Security Council may decide what measures not involving the use of armed force are to be employed to give effect to its decisions, and it may call upon the Members of the United Nations to apply such measures. These may include complete or partial interruption of economic relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, and other means of communication, and the severance of diplomatic relations.

Article 42

Should the Security Council consider that measures provided for in Article 41 would be inadequate or have proved to be inadequate, **it may take such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security.** Such action may include demonstrations, blockade, and other operations by air, sea, or land forces of Members of the United Nations.

-Selections from Chapter VII of the UN charter: ACTION WITH RESPECT TO THREATS TO THE PEACE, BREACHES OF THE PEACE, AND ACTS OF AGGRESSION


	3. Opening Infiltration: Chapter 2

**(Chapter Two-****About to Begin)**

_Men's Dormitory Room 24-Jeremy Belpois  
Kadic __International__ Academy  
07:20 hours-The Next Morning_

Three sharp knocks rapped on Jeremy's door, followed by a high-pitched, muffled voice that could only belong to one annoying person.

"Hey, Einstein! You're still in bed? C'mon, it's waffles in the cafeteria today!" Odd Della Robia shouted from outside Jeremy's door.

Jeremy groaned as he reached for his glasses. Figures, he thought, the only way to get that twerp out of bed this early was food. His eyes still blurry but properly focusing, Jeremy glanced at the clock. He'd slept in again. He'd been up late working with a wonderful pink-haired somebody on a devirtualization program…

His reverie was interrupted by the sound of yet another voice beyond the door.

"So, Odd," the voice of Ulrich Stern said, "Five days out of seven in the week, we have to practically dynamite your lazy carcass out of bed. Tests, assignments due, international crises, none of this gets you going, but mention food, and you're up 30 minutes before class annoying the living crap out of everyone else."

"Hey, c'mon!" Odd replied, "A man's got to have his priorities! And what could be more important to the human body than food?"

"Well," Jeremy said, poking his head out the door, "That would imply two things. First of all that what the cafeteria serves is food, and second that you are human. Given your appearance, however, I'd doubt that. You look more like a scrawny, nappy-haired conehead."

Ulrich burst out laughing. Odd glared at the both of them before storming off, yelling behind him "Well fine! I'm going down to enjoy a nice, quiet breakfast by myself! And it'll be the best breakfast ever! EVER!"

Ulrich and Jeremy looked at each other and chuckled. "You're up late today, Jeremy." Ulrich began, stepping into Jeremy's room.

"Yeah, I was up late working on some…extracurricular stuff." Jeremy sighed, remembering the late hours that blurred by the night before.

"Still trying to devirtualize our special friend?"

"Yeah, and I'm not any closer either. I just don't know if I can do it, or if it's even possible…" Jeremy trailed off, his eyes gazing out the window.

Ulrich smiled. "Hey, it's fine man. Rome wasn't built in a day, and Aelita's going to take a while too." Jeremy looked back at him and smiled. "C'mon," Ulrich continued. "Get showered and dressed. I've got a feeling we're going to be dragging Odd from the cafeteria to the bathroom again."

_Main Courtyard  
Kadic__ International__ Academy  
07:35 hours_

As Odd gorged himself on a heaping pile of waffles, Tom, dressed in jeans, a green polo and a black jacket strode into the courtyard, carrying a backpack, a duffel, and wheeling behind him a large trunk.

_Hmm,_ he thought. _Now I'm supposed to meet the superintendent at the main office, but where the hell is it! Nothing's labeled in this place!_

He spotted a couple of students enter the cafeteria, and figured he'd ask someone in there where he could drop his load off. Leaving his trunk at the door, he entered the caf. A few students were eating there, and there was a large plate of half-eaten waffles and heard a moan coming from the direction of the bathroom. A muffled conversation between a couple of voices could be heard from beyond the door.

"'Best breakfast ever,' huh? Don't you know that too much of a good thing can be a bad thing?"

Another voice groaned, "Ohh, too…many…ugghhhhh…."

A number of heads turned away, some chuckling and some disgusted, pushing away their plates.

"Can I help you, dearie?" A large lady with a ladle behind the serving station asked, looking at Tom.

"Yeah, I've got a meeting with Mr. Delmas in the main office, but I'm afraid I'm a little lost." Tom replied, shrugging.

"Ah, a new student, eh?" the jolly cook asked.

"It's that obvious, huh? I guess the massive trunk gave it away?" Tom asked, grinning.

"Heh, you got it! The main office is in the building just across the courtyard, but if you're looking for Mr. Delmas, he's just coming out of the dormitories now."

Tom thanked her and dragged his trunk back out to the courtyard. "Mr. Delmas!" Tom yelled, waving. The superintendent walked quickly over.

"Ah, yes, Mr. Walker, I'm afraid I was running a bit late. I just had to square things away for our dance this evening with our facilities man, Jim. Talking with him is always…interesting. But you're here, good. I was actually just marveling at the unusual amount of paperwork surrounding your stay with us." He remarked.

"Well, I guess a new country, new rules, right?" Tom replied, silently cursing the U.N. bureaucracy that missions like his were _supposed_ to avoid.

"Well put, young man. We already have your course schedule as requested." He said, handing Tom a piece of paper. "Now, let's get you squared away with your room. Here's your key and, as a matter of fact, there is your roommate. Mr. Belpois!"

Tom turned around, and exiting the cafeteria were four individuals, three Caucasian males and one Asian female. Tom's pre-mission briefing flashed through his mind. _Jackpot_, he thought as they came over.

"Yes sir?" One of the blond males, who Tom recognized as Jeremy, replied as the rest of the group looked at Tom.

"Jeremy, this is your new roommate, Thomas Walker. He's just transferring in today. Jeremy, Tom. Tom, Jeremy."

"Hiya." Tom said, reaching his hand out. Jeremy reached out and shook it, tentatively, replying with a hello of his own. Mr. Delmas looked at his watch and sent Jeremy to show Tom his room while the rest of the crew joined the growing throngs of students heading off to class. "So who were those folks you were with?" Tom asked as they lugged his trunk up the stairs, already knowing full well the answer.

"Just some friends of mine." Jeremy replied. "The brown haired one's Ulrich. He's pretty cool, quick on his feet and loves athletics." Tom nodded in approval, admitting that he was quite the sports fan himself. Jeremy continued, "Yeah, the girl standing next to him was Yumi. She's Japanese, very determined and really serious. And she's not one you would want fighting against you, that's for sure. But deep down she really cares about everyone."

"She seems like the kind who only warms up after you get to know her." Tom replied, as Jeremy nodded in affirmation. "She's also pretty cute, too." Tom continued. Jeremy snorted.

"Ha! Just don't tell that to Ulrich, he kinda has a thing for her and I'd hate to see you get your ass kicked the first day here." Jeremy replied, winking.

"Yeah, I try to avoid that most days if possible." Tom chuckled. "So what about the other dude? He looked kind of…I dunno…goofy." Jeremy burst out laughing.

"Yeah, he's Odd." Jeremy said between chuckles.

"Well obviously!" Tom replied, "But who is he?" Jeremy laughed again and corrected Tom that Odd's name was, in fact, Odd. "Damn, talk about living up to your name! So what's he like? I'd assume he's a bit of a nut, isn't he?"

"Well, yeah." Jeremy responded. "He can act a little crazy, and he certainly is hotheaded, but under pressure he's cool as ice. In the end, he's really pretty selfless, despite his occasional overindulgence." Jeremy concluded, thinking about this morning's breakfast issue.

"Sounds like you hang with a pretty sweet crowd, Jeremy." Tom stated. He decided to throw out a feeler. "I'm sure the action's nonstop around you guys." He remarked.

"You have no idea."

_Science Classroom 4B  
07:55 hours_

Surrounded by the usual pre-class hubbub, Ulrich and Odd were still talking about Jeremy's new roommate.

"So what? So what! He's living right with us! He may be American but he's not dumb. He'll pick up that Jeremy'll be gone for hours at a time at night. I'm telling you, this is going to make things a lot more difficult for us." Ulrich tersely whispered.

"Ah, c'mon man!" Odd said, leaning back in his chair. "We'll figure something out. We always do! Besides, I can always make life such a living hell for him, that he'll beg to be transferred to another room!"

"True, but it's still a problem! If there's another attack while he's here…" Ulrich trailed off. "Wait, you don't think he was…sent by XANA, do you?"

Odd perked up an eyebrow. "You really think so? I mean, that's pretty elaborate. We've never seen him pull something like that before."

"Which doesn't mean he isn't capable." Ulrich turned in his chair. "But it doesn't mean he is. We can't be paranoid about this, but we can't be too careful either. Look, we'll just keep an eye out, ok? If he doesn't act normally, we'll assume the worst. What do you think?" He asked Jeremy, who had just come in with Tom. Tom was still at the front, sorting things out with the teacher.

"Look, guys, I think you're overreacting. He's a really nice kid. Let's just open up to him and see what happens, ok? C'mon, class is about to start." Jeremy sat down as the teacher began speaking. Tom stood off to her right.

"Listen up, class!" the teacher began. "We have a new student today, and he's here to tell you a little about himself. Make him feel welcome. Tom?" Tom stepped up.

"Hello classmates! My name is Thomas Walker, you can call me Tom. I'm the new kid here this morning. I'm from just outside of Boston, which is in Massachusetts, which is in America, for those of you who enjoy the occasional nap during geography class. And before you start rolling your eyes at the seemingly stereotypical American in front of you, let me tell you a little more relevant information about myself. I am an overly bored teenager with in interest in utilitarian ethics and international relations. I enjoy sports, music, philosophy, and preserving freedom and democracy. And before any of you ask, I am not a hawkish warmonger but a militant peacekeeper. Or am I? Maybe I'm just too patriotic to admit it. So, who needs a lab partner?"

"Jeez, he's a bit blunt, isn't he?" Odd asked.

"Yeah," Ulrich admitted. "but I don't think XANA would act that way. He seems nice enough. So whaddya say? You need a lab partner." Odd had already raised his hand.

"Hey new guy! Over here!" Tom made his way through the class to the empty seat between Ulrich and Odd. "Today's lesson is on molecular behavior." Odd continued "Do you know anything about dipoles?"

"Enough to know one when I see one." Tom grinned, and they set off to work.

* * *

**Not too much action yet, I know, but have faith. Behind every great story is a great exposition...**

Anyway, let me know what you think of things so far. Love it, hate it, or berate it, let me know how I'm doing!

* * *


	4. Opening Infiltration: Chapter 3

(**Chapter 3-Facade)**

_Main Gymnasium  
Kadic__ International__ Academy  
15:24 hours-Later that day…_

As it turned out, Tom got along famously with the crew. He had wit, brains, and looks too. For a moment, Odd, Jeremy, and Ulrich almost forgot that they were engaged in a vicious struggle against a malevolent supercomputer and just enjoyed themselves, and the fact that he was slightly older allowed them to feel like they could open up a little more than if he were one of their classmates.

"So Tom," Ulrich asked, "We've volunteered to help out with setting up the school's dance later tonight. It's kind of a beginning of the year thing. Think you can help us out?"

"Yeah!" Odd piped in. "Jeremy's gotta bail on us for a while to work on some…uh…IT homework. Besides, you'll get to meet Yumi!" Ulrich's head snapped and he glared at Odd.

"Sure thing." Tom replied. "I've got nothing better to do." As they walked in, Tom saw two younger girl students fiddling with a video camera. They looked like they were having a little trouble with the battery.

"No, no you've got it upside down! Careful, Tamilla, you'll break it!" The redhead said. Tom stepped up.

"Nah, here, it just snaps in." Tom explained, as the battery clicked into the back. "You're all set." He winked and walked off to join his friends. "Kids." He smiled.

"Yup," Odd replied, "Those are our intrepid school reporters, Millie and Tamilla. And this is the wonderful Yumi Ishiyama. She's in your year." Tom had already seen the photo in her file, but this was something else. He could really see why Ulrich liked her, and if it wasn't for his girlfriend back home and the fact that Ulrich would probably take his head off, he'd make a move on her. Tom regained his composure instantly.

"Hey Yumi. I'm Tom. It's a pleasure." Tom said, extending his hand. Yumi smiled and took it.

"It's nice to meet you too, Tom. Odd and Ulrich have been telling me what a cool guy you are. You helping us out today?" she asked.

"I sure am." Tom replied. "What can I do?" As Yumi was about to tell him, a cry came out from above.

"Look out!" it yelled, as a stage light came dropped from the ceiling just above where the group was standing. Tom shoved the others out of the way as he reached out and snagged the heavy light out of the air just before it hit the ground in front of him. Tom placed it gently on the floor and called up for the man working on the lights to retrieve it.

"Whoa." Ulrich said, as everyone was still looking at Tom, who was shaking his hands out, trying to get some feeling back in them. "How did you catch that?" he asked, looking at Tom strangely.

_Shit_. Tom thought. "Ah, good reflexes, a couple years of football, or rather American football, and some Frisbee. Couple that together, and I can catch pretty much anything." He chuckled, but the rest of the group still looked at him suspiciously. It was Odd who broke the awkward silence.

"Hey, it was a nice move. C'mon, you're tall, help us set up this banner." He patted Tom on the shoulder as the group relaxed a bit.

As they began to work, Tom saw the two reporters currently trying to interview a fairly pretty looking girl in pink, before a pimply-faced kid in a green shirt and glasses forced them to turn the camera off. A vaguely neanderthalic kid in a blue shirt stood to his right. Tom heard the girl in pink say something about only talking to professional reporters. Millie argued something about freedom of the press, to which the girl in pink responded that Millie had no freedom, and that nobody would want to go to the dance with a girl like her. Millie looked devastated as she turned into the gymnasium.

"Uh, Ulrich?" She asked, blushing as a tear escaped her eye. "Will you be my date tonight?" Ulrich turned and frowned.

"Uh, sorry Millie. It wouldn't be a very good idea. I'm too old for you." Yumi came down the ladder next to him. "And, uh, you see, I promised to go with Yumi."

"You see?" The girl in pink cackled. "What did I tell you? But don't worry, Millie, I'm sure you'll find a boy for the sandbox dance. Meanwhile, why don't you go play with your dolls!" Millie bolted out of the door crying, followed by Tamilla calling after her. The girl in pink, however, looked mighty pleased. Tom opened his mouth to say something, but Yumi beat him to the punch.

"Well, I hope you're proud of yourself." She glared at the girl in pink as her retinue left.

"Man," Tom started "What a conceited bitchwad!" Odd started laughing.

"Haha! Man you hit the nail on the head with that one!" he chuckled "Yeah, that's Sissi. She's the school beauty queen, the principal's daughter and the most spoiled rotten wench you'll ever have the displeasure of meeting."

"Do you have a thing for her?" Tom asked, grinning.

"Piss off." He replied.

_Men's Dormitory Room 24  
Kadic__ International__ Academy  
Meanwhile…_

As Millie went off to cry into her teddy bear, Jeremy had his headset on and typed furiously at his keyboard.

"Aelita? It's Jeremy, do you read me? Aelita?" A screen popped up, and a woman in pink, with pink hair and elfin ears appeared.

"Hi! How are you?" Aelita asked.

"Uh, I'm fine, how about you?" Jeremy replied.

"Ok," Aelita responded. "I didn't see anything unusual around the towers. Everything seems pretty quiet. Well, at least for now."

"Great! Well, I'm making progress on my research, so we can get you out of there and you can come live with us. But, uh, there's been a complication." Jeremy scratched his head.

"What's that?" Aelita asked.

"I might not be able to spend as much time talking to you. I, uh, have a roommate now." He looked downcast.

"Hey! That's great!" Aelita asked. "I can't wait to meet him!"

"No way!" Jeremy screamed. "He can't know about you or Lyoko! Who knows who he'll tell!"

"You really think so Jeremy? Maybe you can see if you trust him. He may be helpful." She proposed.

"Well, he is a really nice guy, and everyone seems to like him, but I still don't know about him. I'll have to talk to everyone else about him. Speaking of which, I better get down and help the guys set up for the dance tonight. See you later!"

_Maintenance Shed  
20 Minutes Later  
_  
At this point, Millie had already left the shed she had been crying in, leaving behind her teddy bear next to a stack of garden tools. The light overhead flickered and went out, and a nebulous black smoke drifted out of it. Instead of rising to the ceiling like normal smoke, however, this substance drifted downward and onto the bear, seeping into it until the smoke was completely absorbed in the soft fleece. Suddenly, the teddy bear did something that only its real life cousins could.

The bear moved.

On its own, it stood up and left the shed, ambling towards the dormitories.

A XANA attack had begun.

_Main courtyard  
A Short while later…_

Having just finished up setting up for the dance for the time being, Tom headed with the rest of the group over to get some food at the caf.

"So," Ulrich asked Tom. "You got a date for this thing tonight?"

"Nah, not yet." He replied "I just got here. Besides, there's a certain young lady back home would be too keen on the idea."

"You've got a girlfriend?" Odd asked. "What's her name?"

"Her name's—OOF!" Tom grunted as he ran into some kids gathered around the doorway. Principal Delmas was there holding Sissi.

"Hey, what's happening here?" Ulrich asked one of the onlookers.

"Apparently a whole bunch of stuff blew up in Sissi's room, kinda shook her up a bit." The kid replied, chuckling. "It's always something with that one."

As Principal Delmas left with his daughter, everyone but Tom was thinking XANA. So it was no surprise when Odd proposed they take a look around Sissi's room. Tom, keen to show his investigative prowess, eagerly agreed.

Moments later the group stood outside of Sissi's door. The scene inside, while short of total devastation, was one of extreme disarray. Numerous items of clothing lay strewn about the floor, lamps and other electrical items looked askew, bottles of exfoliating liquids spilled across her desk, and there was the faint odor of electrical smoke and urine.

"Hmm," Jeremy examined the mess from the door. "Looks like a short circuit caused by an electrical overload, most likely a result of too many electronics operating at once."

"And what do you suppose caused the scattered items?" Ulrich asked. "Electrical overloads wouldn't cause that."

"True." Jeremy replied. "But taking into account what we know about Sissi, we can kind of begin to form an explanation."

"Good point." Tom interjected, quietly stepping into the room and making his way over to Sissi's desk. _Four drawers_, he thought. _Only one locked. If I were Sissi, that's where I'd hide them._ Tom unbent a bobbi pin lying on Sissi's desk and began to trick the lock on the top drawer.

"What are you doing?" Ulrich asked, stepping into the room with Tom.

"Looking for an explanation. Sissi may be a bad person, but she's not dumb. She'd probably figure out an electrical overload, and judging by the fact that she didn't appear injured I'd say there's another factor at play here." Tom grunted as the lock gave, and he began to rifle through the items contained there. "If the original pieces don't fit, that's probably because there's one missing…aha!" Tom shouted excitedly as he retrieved a bottle of pills. "Tell me, have you guys had any big tests, projects or papers due lately?" He asked, studying the bottle.

"Yeah," Jeremy replied. "We have a chemistry test on Monday, why?" he asked quizzically.

"Because someone is hopped up on Methylphenidate." Tom said, shaking the bottle as he turned to face them. "Your beauty queen's on Ritalin." He tossed Ulrich the bottle.

Ulrich snatched it and looked at the bottle. Sure enough, the name on the prescription read SISSI DELMAS. Ulrich looked up at Tom before passing the bottle on.

"How…how did you know?" Yumi asked after inspecting the bottle herself.

"Simple. It just adds up. She was sitting bolt-upright in chem today, never got distracted and never zoned out. You don't usually have to do that when your daddy's principal. Couple that with her irritability around the reporters, the way she almost fell of that ladder (and right into Ulrich's arms) at the gym today, and this little episode, and you have classic signs of pill usage: irritability, dizziness, and nervousness. She probably got pissed that she knocked over these beauty potions here, hit her stereo, which activated and caused the short. Then she probably freaked out, knocked into all this stuff here, got dizzy and fell into this pile of clothes, knocking it over. It all makes sense. Also," he grinned "Ritalin suppresses the appetite, which can help explain how she looks like a biology specimen."

The room was silent. It took Odd to finally break it.

"How did you figure out all of this?" he asked slowly.

"Ask Socrates, he's got a great method. C'mon," said Tom, taking the pills from Jeremy and locking them back in Sissi's drawer. "Let's get out of here before the big bloke with the bandage catches us."

"What, you mean Jim?" asked Ulrich as they left. "Yeah, he'd throw a shitfit if he found us snooping around in here."

As the group walked off down the corridor, Millie and Tamilla crept into Sissi's recently vacated room. Tamilla began snapping away with a Polaroid camera. Millie, meanwhile was almost gleeful.

"Did you here that, Tamilla? Sissi with ADHD! What a story this'll be!" she jumped up and down.

"Yup," Tamilla replied, "It's a scoop alright!" She snapped a photo of Sissi's disarrayed bed just as a fuzzy stuffed animal retreated behind one of the pillows…

_Main Courtyard  
17:27 hours_

After investigating Sissi's room, the group broke up for a bit. Jeremy, Ulrich and Yumi went off to finish preparations for the dance, Odd went out for a walk, and Tom said something about checking in with his parents.

Odd was heading back across the courtyard when he spotted the two figures of Millie and Tamilla sitting on a pillar outside the overhang. Millie was upset, still no doubt over Sissi's prior comments. He decided to try and cheer up the youngster.

"What's wrong, Millie?" he asked.

"Someone stole her teddy bear." Tamilla said, looking up.

"And I'm sure it was one of the big kids who did it for spite!" Millie chimed in. Suddenly Tamilla perked up.

"Look, Millie!" She pointed to a picture "You're right! Look at this! It's a picture of Sissi's room!"

"And there's my teddy bear, hidden under her pillow! Incredible!" Millie said, now angry. "It's not enough that she insults me, but that turdmuffin has to steal my stuff too! C'mon! We gotta find her!"

_Turdmuffin?_ Odd thought. "Hey, why don't you go back to your room? I'll handle this." He grabbed the picture and left

_Men's Dormitory Room 24  
Meanwhile…_

As Odd rushed off, contemplating how he was going to maximize Sissi's embarrassment, Tom was in his room. He had wanted to organize his effects and retrieve his sidearm in private. He quickly changed into the clothes he decided to wear for the evening: A striped button down shirt and clean jeans, along with an ankle holster for his Sig Sauer P228. The compact and lightweight gun would be easily concealed beneath his jeans and wouldn't get in the way of any dancing. He shoved an extra magazine into the pocket of his jacket and grabbed his cell phone. It was time to make the call.

He dialed a few numbers and waited. The phone rang once, twice, and after eight times Tom heard a familiar voice on the other line.

"You've reached the Walker family." Tom's father's voice said. "We are unable to come to the phone right now, but if you leave your name and number, we'll call you back as soon as we can. Thanks!" The answering machine beeped.

"Hey folks, it's Tom. I guess you all are still at work or something. I just wanted to let you know that I made it here ok and that things are going great. I've actually got to get running, there's a dance tonight and I want to get there early. I'll try and give you all a call tomorrow sometime, or send you an email or something. Talk to you soon! Bye!" Tom hung up the phone and sighed. He then twisted the antenna of his phone until it slid out to double its normal length, thus activating its secure satellite feature. He opened up the messaging application and logged on to the UN's secure server in Lyon. Once online, he began typing his status report.

_Agent reporting: Operation: Lone Eagle is progressing. __Successful entry and infiltration among subject group.__ Subjects seem not repeat not hostile, but further confirmation is required at this time. No anomalies or disturbances_—Suddenly a loud male scream outside distracted Tom, who looked out the window to see Jim running from behind the cafeteria from the direction of the gymnasium, tripping and falling on his face before low-crawling his way across the courtyard towards the infirmary. Tom erased a few words and continued his report. _No temporal anomalies detected, but several strange minor disturbances currently ongoing. Will investigate and report later. End Agent report._ Tom sent the message off and gathered his things, checking to make sure his Sig Sauer was securely strapped to his ankle. He wanted to take a look at what happened where Jim had just come running from…

* * *

**Now we're starting to get some action...  
Special thanks to Dark Bunny of Doom for my first review! I'm hoping to get some more soon, just to let me know what you guys think of it so far. After all, I'm planning on making this story span the whole series, and it's going to get awful lonely without reviews...**

**Take the hint, people! **

* * *


	5. Opening Infiltration: Chapter 4

**(Chapter 4-Terror)**

_Infirmary  
10 Minutes later_

Odd decided that there was definitely something, well, odd about the way Sissi's room seemed to be in slightly more of a shambles than when he had left, and how it now looked as though a wild animal had been set loose in the room. He knew it would be more than just slightly hypocritical if he accused Sissi of keeping an animal, as he had his dog Kiwi stashed away, but he still decided that it was worth paying her a visit for.

This was how he found himself in the infirmary just as Principal Delmas was interrogating Jim. Odd stood just outside the door as he listened to his principal talking.

"Eh, now you're sure, Jim, that this is your attacker?" he asked, holding a piece of paper. Jim nodded furiously. "And you say he's an expert in martial arts?" Jim nodded again. "I think it would be better not to call the police, right Jim?" Jim sobbed and covered his head. Principal Delmas stepped outside and almost walked right into Odd. "Uh, Odd, are you looking for something?" he asked.

"Oh, uh, no, you see, I just heard about what happened to Jim. Do they know who attacked him?" asked Odd, recovering his composure.

"Uh, no. For now, I think our gym teacher could use some rest." With that, Principal Delmas crumpled up the paper and threw it in the trash and left the room. Odd removed the paper and unfolded it. He gasped at what he saw.

On it was a crude, yet unmistakable drawing of a bear on its hind legs. To Odd, the picture was unsettling. _It doesn't make sense. There aren't any bears in this area, and they would have notified the school if one had escaped from any zoos. Besides, if Jim was mauled by bear, he wouldn't have drawn it on its hind legs._ "I've gotta tell the guys." He said, rushing off to find his friends.

_Gymnasium Exterior  
Meanwhile…_

Tom reached the rear of the gymnasium and was startled by what he saw. Large swaths of the forest had been felled, and large tracks extended out from the forest, made a few other steps and retreated back into the underbrush, leaving a trail cutting northward through the trees. Tom knelt down and examined the tracks. They were large and deep enough to be left by a massive animal, such as an elephant or rhino, but the tracks were soft and strangely bipedal.

He looked up and saw the sun slowly setting through the trees. _Damn,_ he thought_ there's too little light left to pursue, and I don't have the time to run to the bunker and pick up a NOD._ He touched his ankle, making sure that his weapon was still there. He checked his watch. 1800 hours, 6:00 PM. Most students by now were getting ready for the dance, set to begin in an hour. He decided that his best bet was to join the rest of them, that his resources would be much better used making sure the students were not attacked rather than leaving them defenseless while going hunting for whatever this beast was. _Speaking of students, where the hell are the subjects?_ Tom wondered. He turned westward and watched lights across campus flick on as the sun set. He set off at a run towards the main courtyard, shoes thumping with each step, just as the sky turned black.

_Supercomputer Control Room  
Abandoned Renault Factory  
Minutes Later…_

"Transfer, Odd!" Jeremy yelled, typing at the computer's keyboard.

The decision to send Odd to Lyoko had only been made ten minutes ago, and already Jeremy and Odd were in position to send Aelita some reinforcements. But Jeremy didn't have the luxury to marvel at their response time. He had to ensure Odd's virtualization went smoothly.

"Scanner!" he continued making preparations for Odd's trip.

There had been a limited amount of debate surrounding the risks of sending a lone warrior to Lyoko, the point of contention being the uncertainty of what hazards could present themselves once they arrived. But, with a massive teddy bear on the loose and Yumi out of contact, Ulrich was not going to leave the school unguarded. None of them had any idea that Tom was already employing himself to that effect.

"Virtualization!" Downstairs in Odd's scanner, a white light pulsed and Odd was gone, rendered into data by the complex mechanisms in the supercomputer.

Ulrich had decided that there were no alternatives to send Odd to Lyoko. He would retrieve Yumi and evacuate the school. By then, if Odd hadn't secured the tower, they would come in as additional reinforcements.

Odd finished rendering on Lyoko and he dropped to the ground. He scanned his surrounding area, noticing immediately that he was in the desert region and there was a certain pink haired lady waving at him off to his right. He set off in that direction.

As Odd reached Aelita, she gestured downward towards a large sinkhole in the plain. "You see that?" she asked. "The tower that XANA has activated can't be too far away."

"Well, uh," Odd began, looking downward. "Not down there anyway."

"Maybe on the neighboring plateaus?" Aelita proposed. Odd turned around.

"Oops!" he said, noticing five figures fast approaching on the horizon. "Here comes the reception committee." Odd leapt into action, dodging the laser blasts already streaming out of the encircling kankrelats.

_Kadic__ Academy__ Exterior Wall  
Northern Side  
Meanwhile_

As Aelita and Odd were meeting up on Lyoko Ulrich called, reporting some disturbing information.

"Jeremy? It's bad. The bear got out of the school!" he reported, cell phone hooked up to a hands-free microphone as he looked at part of the destroyed northern wall of the school.

"If it's under XANA's control, it will only become much madder." Aelita responded "It'll go for anyone that's around, especially his mortal enemies, like you." Jeremy gasped, but it was Ulrich who came to the conclusion first.

"Oh! Yumi!" he yelled, racing through the newly created hole and down the streets leading to Yumi's house.

As Ulrich's feet pounded along the asphalt, he noticed toppled cars, broken trees and twisted light posts winding a path of destruction towards his ultimate destination. He tried reaching Yumi again on her cell phone.

"Answer! Will you answer!" He yelled as the phone rang again and again.

As Yumi's cell went unanswered in a pile of clothes in her room, Odd was having trouble engaging the squad of kankrelats. While he had managed to take down one with a well placed laser arrow, he had taken a direct hit in the chest.

"Odd, you just lost another 10 life points." Jeremy reported, glancing at the flashing status monitor on his screen.

"No kidding!" Odd yelled back as he took cover behind the lip of the path leading into the sinkhole.

"Odd!" Aelita got his attention as more laser blasts flew overhead. "I'm afraid we've got no choice." She said, pointing down the path. Suddenly, Odd had a premonition. He saw Aelita falling down into the digital void below. _Damn it!_ He thought. _I can tell _what_ is going to happen, I just have no idea _when! He dashed off after Aelita, who was already running down the path.

As Odd chased after Aelita, Ulrich finally arrived at Yumi's house. Looking around, he noticed no sign of the bear. Making his move, he bolted to Yumi's door and repeatedly rang the bell. Minutes later, she came to the door, looking surprised, happy, and dressed to party.

"Ulrich!" she exclaimed excitedly. He pushed past her into the house. "Hey!" she said, glaring "Watch it, will you?"

"Sorry," Ulrich said, grabbing her hands "Are your parents home?" he asked breathlessly.

Yumi could tell something was up. "No, they went out." She replied

"Okay, c'mon, we can't stay here." Ulrich began dragging her out of the house. Yumi broke free of his grip.

"Hey, would you mind explaining?" she started, but a series of earth-shaking impacts broke her concentration.

"We don't have time! C'mon!" Ulrich responded. Yumi thought about asking again, but as a loud growl was emitted from what seemed to be a massive children's bear, she decided that was all the encouragement she needed. The pair raced off down the street.

On Lyoko, Odd continued to follow Aelita down the sinkhole. XANA's monsters were in hot pursuit.

"Odd," Jeremy's voice sounded "Be careful! You only have 50 life points left!"

_Okay then,_ he decided _I've had enough of this game of cat and cockroach._ Odd spun back to face the approaching kankrelats.

"Laser arrows!" he yelled, firing three quick shots out of his fisted hands. The first two hit their targets cleanly, destroying the monsters. The final one hit its target on more of a glancing blow. It had enough force to destroy it, but not before it spun around and knocked the remaining pursuing kankrelat off the path, causing a minor rock slide to fall on the path below. This, of course, just happened to be right where Aelita was standing and watching the action. The falling rocks and monster caused her to lose her balance, sending her falling towards the digital abyss below.

Odd saw this, and in a series of slightly physically impossible leaps he jumped down the side of the sink hole, managing to fall _faster_ than Aelita. He quickly caught up, snagged the falling digital girl and dug his catlike claws into the rock wall of the hole.

"Ah!" Odd grunted as they slid down the wall, eventually coming to a stop. "Phew!" he said, shaking his head. "We can't leave you alone for one second, huh?"

Aelita chuckled and looked forward. "Odd," she began. "I think I found something." She peered into what looked like a tunnel filled with red, pulsating tubes. This was their ticket out.

_City Streets  
18:47 hours_

Ulrich and Yumi were running for their lives.

The bear had chased them onto a main thoroughfare, and what had been a relatively calm street intersection had quickly degenerated into utter chaos and panic. People were screaming, many pedestrians making beelines for storefronts and the relative safety of alleyways and alcoves. Those still in their cars quickly abandoned them, running helter-skelter down the street and away from the approaching menace. The bear had grown even larger by now, rivaling three story buildings and making short work of the pack of abandoned cars blocking its path. Large red XANA symbols appeared in its eyes.

"That way!" Ulrich yelled, turning down a side street and hiding in a foyer to a large apartment building. The two gasped as the bear continued right past their location, the concussion of its footsteps shattering the glass doors in front of them.

With the bear temporarily off the trail, the pair decided that now was the best time to had back to Kadic and evacuate it. Ulrich dialed Jeremy on his hands free phone.

"Jeremy? It's Ulrich." He said as he and Yumi ran southward towards the school. "Yumi's with me. We're coming back to the school to evacuate everyone. Tell Odd to move it!" he continued, passing overturned cars "It's getting rough around here!"

_Kadic__ Academy__ Gymnasium  
School Dance  
18:53 hours_

Tom, meanwhile, was at the dance, trying to enjoy himself and stay alert at the same time. Dance music was playing, with the music having just shifted to some kind of trance or house style, and kids all around were dressed in their best outfits, but Tom couldn't focus. He had danced a little, but was far too distracted to do more than a couple of songs. He was still disconcerted by the large tracks leading into the forest not far from his current location, and by the fact that he didn't see Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, or Yumi anywhere. The music changed again into a slow guitar strum, and a voice rang out in English, heavy on the reverb.

_This is an anthem for the girl that got away…_

_This is an anthem for the world of yesterday…_

_This is an anthem for the rebel of my youth…_

_This is an anthem for the risk of loving you…_

"Hey, new guy!" a voice pulled Tom out of his thoughts as the music devolved back into a club beat. He looked up and saw Sissi standing in front of him. She looked good, hair done up nice, wearing a tight pink top with a star on it that revealed her midriff. Had she not already proven herself to be a colossal bitch, Tom might have even fancied a go. Sissi, meanwhile, was plotting to make Ulrich jealous. If he had found out that she had danced with his new friend, he was sure to go ripshit.

"Yeah?" Tom responded, meeting her eyes.

"Looks like those loser friends of yours abandoned you. Maybe you should spend your time hanging out with people more your style?" she proposed deviously.

"My style? How so?" said Tom, playing along.

"You know, hip, swinging, popular." Sissi responded, reeling him in.

Tom snapped her hopes. "Really? I thought you meant jealous, conniving, pill popping and malevolent. I've got more adjectives if you want."

Sissi looked shocked. "Nobody talks to me like that! _Nobody!_"

"Apparently someone does. Look, here's some advice. If you really want to make Ulrich jealous, dance with someone a little more beneath you. Here." He said, dragging over the pimply kid in the green shirt he had seen earlier. "He looks about right for you. Ugly on the inside, meet ugly on the outside. Excuse me." Tom walked away. He could tell already that one was going to make things difficult. He moved to the side of the gymnasium and looked up just in time to see a familiar face walk through the door.

"Ulrich!" he called.

Ulrich saw Tom and headed towards him. Yumi had left to go clear the dorms, he had to start getting people out of here. "Where the hell have you been?" Tom asked.

"Look, Tom, there's not a lot of time. We have to evacuate the gym." He told Tom.

Tom looked down at the slightly disheveled kid in front of him. "You've lost it, haven't you?" he asked. "What, is this some kind of joke?"

Ulrich grabbed Tom by the arm and looked him dead in the eye. "You have to believe me, this is serious."

"Wait, what the fuck are you—" Tom stopped and looked back into his eyes. They were wide and flicking back and forth, a sign of adrenaline rush. _He's seen it_ Tom thought.

_Lyoko  
Desert Sector  
Meanwhile…_

As Ulrich and Tom were having their stare down in the gym, Odd and Aelita had managed to pick up a megatank on the way to the tower.

"Shit! Houston, we have a problem!" he yelled to Jeremy as they sprinted down the tunnel away from the approaching monster. After what seemed like an eternity, he and Aelita exited the tunnel and out into a circular canyon. The pair separated and the megatank rolled with a thud right into a solid cylindrical object. Odd looked up. They had arrived at the activated tower.

"We found the tower, Jeremy." He reported.

"Great!" he responded. "Well done! Now all you have to do is deactivate it!"

"Okay, just give me a minute to say hello to an old buddy of mine." Odd said, standing up to face the megatank.

"Spare the semantics, Odd! You only have 50 life points left, you can't let him hit you!" Jeremy retorted as the tank spun around to face Odd.

Odd grunted and leapt into action.

Back in the gym, Tom and Ulrich continued their conversation.

"I'm not shitting you, Tom! This is real!" Ulrich told him tersely. "We're about to come under attack!" Ulrich released Tom's arm, which promptly snatched Ulrich's wrist.

Tom continued to watch the way his eyes moved. His pulse was elevated, but he looked like he had just run a marathon, and his eyes flicked to the right, indicating recall instead of fabrication. He was telling the truth, or at least he thought he was. "Okay! Okay!" Tom said. "I believe you." He let Ulrich go and watched him make his way up towards the front. Tom touched his pistol with his foot to make sure it was still attached.

On his way to the front, Ulrich ran, literally, into Jim.

"Hey Ulrich," Jim began, dressed in a blazer and shirt, no tie "you could have made a little effort! I can't believe how sloppy you look!" He tightened the back of Ulrich's shirt to his neck. "Well, I'll let it go this time. I'll put it down to the company you keep." Ulrich walked off as Jim called after him "Try to chill out and have fun. You look like you're expecting a disaster."

_This is an anthem for the girl that got away…_

_This is an anthem for the world of yesterday…_

_This is an anthem for the rebel of my youth…_

_This is an anthem for the risk of loving you…_

_The risk of loving you…_

Ulrich continued to try and make his way across the gym full of dancing people to the microphones, when suddenly he was stopped by Sissi, dancing with a very giddy looking Herve.

"Hey Ulrich!" She said, poking him in the chest and letting go of Herve, who almost collapsed on the floor. "How are you? Hey, where did your date go? Next time, just call me."

Ulrich's eyes narrowed as Principal Delmas stepped onstage to make an announcement. "And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, the election of this year's beauty queen. So get ready!" Sissi rushed away as the crowd began to applaud. Ulrich saw a spare microphone hooked up to the DJ's booth. Now was the time.

Back on Lyoko, the megatank let out another large blast from its cannon, and Odd yet again dodged. He was getting tired of playing with this oversized bowling ball. "Now that's what I call a warm welcome!" he said as the tank charged and fired again, knocking him from his feet as he dodged.

"Jeremy!" Aelita began "Odd's not going to make it on his own!"

"Yes he will!" Jeremy replied "Odd, c'mon, cut the crap! You've gotta hit the target!" The tank charged again.

Back in the gym, the three candidates for queen were onstage, and Tom saw that Ulrich had finally almost reached the booth.

"And now, everyone," the principal began "this year, once again, it's time to elect the young lady who, in your view, combines, more than any other girl, charm, grace, beauty and elegance! And here is our first candidate!" he said pointing to Sissi. Suddenly the background music cut out and with a screech of feedback Ulrich's voice sounded above the din.

"Stop!" it said. Tom turned to see Ulrich standing on top of the DJ booth with a microphone in his hand. "Listen to what I have to say! You have all got to get out of here! We have to evacuate the gym. Now keep calm." Nobody moved, they all just stared blankly at Ulrich. "I'm not joking, this is serious. We are about to be attacked by a gigantic teddy bear!" Tom stopped as the crowd started laughing. This sounded more like a poorly thought out prank than a legitimate emergency.

He heard Jim call out "Ha! I knew it! I saw it too! I saw the giant teddy bear too!" The crowd continued to laugh.

"Quiet! Quiet! Shut up all of you!" Sissi began, now furious. "You bunch of idiots! Can't you see what he's trying to do? It's a trick, I tell you! A trick to keep me from winning again this year!" Tom began to agree with her. He couldn't believe he had been duped. He couldn't—.

He felt the tremor a half second before he heard the thump. His pupils contracted as his body dumped adrenaline into his system, and time seemed to perceptibly slow. In a flash Tom's hand was down to his ankle drawing the compact P228. A younger kid next to him gasped as he drew it up and clicked off the safety. A second later, the wall of the gym exploded.

Ulrich looked up to see the eyes of the gigantic bear peering in on the gym as the hundreds gathered screamed and rushed to flee out the exit doors. Jim pointed, and ran the other way screaming. As the room cleared, the bear entered. Ulrich still stood on the booth, transfixed at the sight unfolding before him. The bear stared right at him, and it wasn't until he heard someone's voice that it snapped him out of his trance.

"Ulrich!" Tom's voice yelled. "Down! Now!" Ulrich dove and turned his head towards Tom, who held a small black object out in front of him. Ulrich once again froze, confused. He blinked his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He wasn't. Tom was holding the unmistakable shape of a pistol. _Why the hell does Tom have a gun?_ He thought. A loud rapport and flash from Tom's pistol distracted him, and a flash from stage lights glinted off the silver slide of the gun. He saw the bear's head rock back slightly and turn right towards Tom. Ulrich could see a large exit hole on the other side of the bear's head, yet the bear hardly reacted.

Tom could barely believe his eyes. He had just put a single 9mm round through what should have been the braincase of this gigantic beast, watched it go through and exit out the other side, and the thing hardly flinched! Its attention was now on him, however, which was a good thing for Ulrich and a bad thing for Tom. He fired three more shots in quick succession, all focused on the head as he tucked and rolled to avoid being caught in a massive punch by the enraged child's toy. He looked on in anger as he saw that his shots still had no effect. Ulrich, he saw, had moved to the edge of the gym by the locker rooms. Tom grimaced. He was going to have to think tactically to get out of this one.

Outside the gym, the large crowd from the dance had scattered, leaving only Yumi, Millie and Tamilla outside. Yumi was checking on the two younger students has she heard three distinctive pops emanating from the building.

"What's that?" Tamilla asked.

"I dunno!" shouted Millie "Let's just get out of here!"

"Good idea," Yumi told them. _Hmm, _she thought _sounds almost like gunfire_. "You two go on ahead, I'm going to grab Ulrich."

"Be careful!" Millie told her.

"Don't worry, I will, now go, now!" Yumi told the kids as she rushed into the gymnasium as another three shots rang out.

On Lyoko, Odd was getting fed up with being blasted around by this monster.

"Okay, you bastard! Is that all you've got?" he asked. Almost in retort, the megatank fired again, propelling Odd forward and on top of the tank. He rolled it around until he could see the eye. "Impact!" he yelled, firing a laser arrow straight into it. The tank rolled away and exploded as Odd landed and gave a thumbs-up to Aelita.

"Go on, Aelita!" Jeremy encouraged "It's up to you!" Aelita entered the tower.

Yumi entered the gym to see the bear in sorry shape. Its eyes were cracked and there was a lot of fluff sticking out from the back of its head. Looking down, she saw an even more unusual sight. Tom was wielding a pistol, ducking and rolling to avoid being hit by the bear's powerful swings.

Tom looked up, and he had the bear just where he wanted. He fired twice, both to the wide right and left of the bear, missing it but hitting the supports for the array of lights that had almost hit him that afternoon. As the lights crashed down on top of the bear, it swung wildly and hit Ulrich, sending him skidding across the room. The bear collapsed to the floor.

"Ulrich!" Yumi cried as she raced towards him. It distracted Tom long enough for the bear to regain some composure and bring a heavy blow down on top of Tom, who rolled just before impact and caught it, sinking slowly down to the ground. His pistol clattered away.

Ulrich and Yumi stared at the struggling Tom, who was pushing with all of his might with his arms and legs against the monster's arm. He let his arms go and rolled to the side as the arm crashed down on the space he had just vacated.

Aelita walked to the center circle and rose up the tower.

Tom worked unsteadily to his feet as the bear rose up and prepared to bring its arm down on Tom again.

Aelita moved up to the recently unveiled terminal and put her hand on it. An afterimage of her hand remained for a moment before being replaced by her name: AELITA. The terminal changed again. CODE: It spelled out.

The bear loomed, and Tom turned to duck.

The word LYOKO appeared on the screen.

The bear froze, inches from Tom's cowering form. He unclenched his eyes and looked at Ulrich and Yumi, the latter of which was supporting the former.

"I don't get it." Tom said. The two turned away from him to face each other. They held each other as Ulrich asked "Ready for a trip into the past, Yumi?" Tom, who was in the process of standing, suddenly froze as well. He couldn't move anything, his lungs wouldn't breathe, and his heart wouldn't beat, yet he was still thinking! Thoughts flashed through his mind at a thousand miles an hour. The room began to get lighter. _Am I dying?_ He thought as the light crept in about the edges of his vision. Suddenly, the room was filled with a blinding white light, and after that Tom felt nothing at all.

**(Epilogue-Back in Time) **

_Main Gymnasium_  
_Kadic__ International Academy_  
_15:33 hours—earlier that afternoon _

"Uh, Ulrich?" Millie asked, blushing as a tear escaped her eye. "Will you be my date tonight?"

Ulrich walked over and put his hands on her shoulders. "I'd be glad to, Millie." He told her. "I'll see you here at six" Millie instantly brightened.

"Really?" she asked.

"Why sure," he responded. He looked up at Yumi "You're not too mad at me, are you Yumi?"

"Not at all," she replied, "Anyway, my secret admirer will take me tonight, right Odd?"

"What!" Sissi screamed incredulously "But Ulrich—you—you're going to go with that—that silly baby?" she stammered.

"That's right, I sure am. But don't worry, when your brain gets another neuron or two, maybe I'll go out with you, too."

Sissi screeched and Millie piped up "You are recording, aren't you, Tamilla?"

"You bet I am, this is a –huh?" she stopped as she was tapped on the shoulder. She looked up and saw Tom, pointing to the camera.

"It's on standby." He told her. She panicked and looked down at the camera. Tom knelt down. "Nah, I'm just kidding. Got a date for tonight?" he asked. Tamilla passed the camera to Millie as she jumped up and down excitedly, yelling her acceptance of Tom's offer. Ulrich came over to Tom.

"You know something, Tom?" Ulrich started. "You're a good guy. Strange, but a good guy." He extended his hand and Tom took it. Yumi nodded and Odd gave him thumbs up.

For the first time that day, Tom felt that these people were developing far beyond just marks in his mind.

They were becoming friends.

* * *

**So there you have it folks, the first episode of my story**. **Since I just introduced my character, I stuck pretty closely to the episode script. Hope you all don't mind. Otherwise, did you guys like the narrative, the action, etc.? There's a lot more where it came from, so if you like it, stay tuned. As always, I would love advice, questions or criticism, so leave those reviews folks! Finally, I'll add that if you are confused about some of the seemingly random elements (the backstory, the HALO jump, etc.) I assure you that all will be explained in future episodes. After all, why would you keep reading if you knew all the answers?**

** Anyway, thanks for reading thus far, folks. And stick around, because things are about to get interesting...**

**Ocelot out. **


	6. Operation: Lone Eagle: Chapter 1

**Here we go again, folks! It's time for the second episode of _Code: Lyoko, Day of the Eagle_. This episode is original, so bear with me as I get this story going.**

**I would like to say a special thanks to my three reviewers so far:  
Dark Bunny of Doom: Thanks for being the first! Good luck on your story!  
punk rock vampire: Thanks for the encouragement. Glad you like my choice of words.  
alteris: Thanks a lot for your review! It's really nice to get another perspective on my story ideas, as twisted as they may be. Trust me, I've got some interesting stuff coming down the pipe.**

**Without further ado...**

**Legal Disclaimer: I do not own Code: Lyoko, or any other brand names/products/songs that I mention. Code: Lyoko is owned by Moonscoop, but Thomas Walker, Brian Towers, and The Major are owned by me.  
**

* * *

**(Prologue-Naissance)**

_Logan International Airport  
Boston, Massachusetts  
Two years ago…_

A high pitched whine resonated throughout the terminal as the APUs on an American Boeing 777 fed power into the plane's system in preparation for take-off. Tom turned to look at it before turning back to the person sitting across the bench from him. "Remind me," Tom asked "why I'm doing this again?"

"Look, Tom, it's a simple diplomatic protection mission. Your squad is acting as bodyguards." The Major replied. "It's that simple."

"No, I understand the mission fine." Tom responded. "I just don't understand why you need a full squad of Spartans to do what any regionally hired mercenary force does every day."

"Quit the grousing, lieutenant." Came a British voice next to him. "You've read the papers as to how unstable the situation in Rael is. If Ambassador Townsend is assassinated, the entire region will suffer."

"Understood,_captain_." Tom intoned back, harshly. "But why is it that your squad gets to go around kicking in doors while MINE has to stay back and babysit?"

"Privileges of rank, mate" Captain Brian Towers grinned. Tom looked back at him. In all actuality, Brian and Tom were physically alike in many ways. Both had brown hair, brown eyes, and were about the same height, and had that same sort of mischievous, squinted grin that Brian had flashed Tom. The similarities, however, were external only. "Besides," Towers continued "I'm not sure I trust a man in combat who has no kills in his file."

"Hey!" The Major interjected. "That's not an accurate way of judging combat aptitude. Lieutenant Walker has some pretty damn good combat efficiency scores, and a higher prisoner count than you do."

"But he refuses to take a life, sir." Towers responded. "And one day, that'll come back and bite him in the ass. I just hope it doesn't kill him when it does.'

Tom was about to protest when an announcement was made over the loudspeaker.

"Attention all passengers." A polite female voice said. "We are now beginning the pre-boarding call for flight 0238 nonstop service to London. All first class passengers and passengers requiring assistance may board now. Thank you."

"See you over there, mate." Towers winked at Tom and left.

**(Chapter One-A Long Run)**

_Kadic International Academy  
Quarter-Mile Track, 09:32 hours  
Two Years Later…_

Tom's feet thumped hard on the packed track beneath him as he continued his run, timing his breaths with his footfalls.

_In…two…three…_

_Out…two…three…_

He had to get his head clear. He had been at the school dance the previous night and hadn't gotten back until almost midnight. He passed the point where he first started, marking the end of his fourth lap.

_In…two…three…_

_Out…two…three…_

When he had gotten back that night, however, he couldn't sleep well. He kept having the strangest dream that he had been fighting a colossal teddy bear, and he just couldn't get any good rest. Halfway through lap five…

_In…two…three…_

_Out…two…three…_

This was all compounded by a very unexpected message from the Major asking for a report on the temporal anomaly that had occurred the evening of the dance. He just had to clear his head out and find out what he missed. Five laps down.

_In…two…three…_

_Out…two…three…_

A song began forming in his head along with the rhythm of his steps. He had heard it the other day on the radio, and it focused back into his mind with crystal clarity.

_Called to see, if your back was still aligned and your sheets, were growing grass all on the corners of your bed.  
But you've got too much to wear on your sleeves, it has too much to do with me and secretly I want to bury in the yard…  
The grey remains of a friendship scarred._

Tom wished he had a guitar with him. The strum pattern just sounded fun. A cold gust of wind blew a welcome relief from behind him as he completed lap six. He looked up and saw the previously puffy cumulous clouds thickening to grey.

_You told us of your new life where you've got someone comin' around, gluing tinsel to your crown. He's got you talking pretty loud.  
Berate, remember, your ailing heart and your criminal eyes. You say you're still in love, if it's true what can be done…  
It's hard to leave all these moments behind._

Tom inhaled and smelled the sweetness of an approaching storm. The sky was darkening up, and Tom felt a drop on his hand.

_Called to see, if your back was still aligned and your sheets, were growing grass all on the corners of your bed.  
But you've got too much to wear on your sleeves, it has too much to do with me and secretly I want to bury in the yard…  
The grey remains of a friendship scarred._

Tom saw the crack of the lightening moments before he heard its concussive blast. The rain began pouring down as though from an open faucet. Tom began sprinting for the entrance to the dormitories.

_You tested your metal, of doe skin and petals,  
While kissing the lipless who bleed all the sweetness away._

Tom stopped halfway there and let the rain soak him completely. He looked up at the sky, laughing, and laid himself out on the lawn, the fool in the rain. His mind finally felt clear.

_Men's Dormitory Room 24-Jeremy Belpois/Thomas Walker  
Meanwhile…_

"I'm telling you," Ulrich began "there's something not right about him." He looked at the group gathered around.

"Look guys, I haven't seen anything unusual at all about him. Tom seems perfectly normal as far as I'm concerned." Jeremy commented.

"He had a gun! Not to mention the fact that he _caught_ a blow by that giant bear, something which, mind you, _crushed cars_!" Ulrich shot back.

"If I could say something…?" Aelita asked from the computer.

"Sure, go ahead." Jeremy said. Everyone turned to the screen.

"I think you are all missing something important." She began. "Didn't he save your lives? And attack XANA's monster? Whoever he is, he certainly isn't XANA, and he doesn't seem to want to hurt you any. We all know he's had more than enough opportunities."

"Aelita's got a point." Yumi piped up. "He could have shot us at any time, or let XANA do the

job. But Ulrich's right as well." Ulrich felt a swell of pride. "Tom isn't normal. We have to keep an eye on him."

"Well, we can start now." Odd said from the door "Here he comes. Aelita, make your self scarce." She waved goodbye and closed the program window. Tom walked in with his shirt balled up in his hand, water dripping from his hair and athletic trainers squeaking on the floor as he walked.

"Whoo! Man, it is WET out there!" Tom said as he opened the door, a bit startled to find everyone in his room. "Uh, hi guys." Tom said. "What's up?"

It was Ulrich that spoke up first. "Nothing. We're just chillin' with Jeremy. How was the run?" he asked.

"Wet." Tom told him. "Hey Jeremy, pass me that towel, would you?" Tom motioned to the towel hanging over Tom's chair as he bent down to grab a dry shirt out of his dresser. As he bent over, the group noticed a trio of long scars running diagonally down his back between his cut muscles. Yumi winced.

"Ooh, how'd you get those?" she asked, with a tinge of sympathy in her voice.

"Traffic accident." Tom said, blowing her off. "So what do you guys tend to do here on weekends? And is the weather always this crappy?" Tom pointed at the window as another rumble of thunder sounded outside. He pulled a blue t-shirt over his head.

"Well, the weather's not supposed to be bad all day. I think it's supposed to clear up this afternoon. Unfortunately, there's not too much to do around here now. Odd's got some games in his room, but other than that I've got nothing." Jeremy responded, shrugging.

"Hey," Ulrich piped up. "I've got an idea. You could come spar with Yumi and I. You into martial arts at all, Tom?"

"Uh, gee, I dunno guys." Tom said. In all actuality Tom _was_ quite interested in martial arts, and as a result of his Close Quarters Combat training he knew many diverse fighting styles.

"What's the matter, Tom?" Yumi laughed. "Afraid of getting your butt whupped by us?"

_Quite the opposite, actually_, Tom thought. In reality, he was just afraid he couldn't scale himself back enough to not seriously injure his friends, or worse, blow his cover. However, he decided that he needed to do this to further establish a relationship with the group. Besides, he now had something to prove. "You're on." He said, finally. "Where and when do you want to do this?"

"We'll meet you down in the gym in half an hour. Bring your "A" game." Ulrich told him, pointing his finger at Tom as he left the room. Yumi rose shortly after.

"See you in 30." She told him, waving goodbye. Odd shrugged and left the room as well.

_Main Gymnasium  
Kadic International Academy  
27 Minutes later…_

Ulrich stood at the center of the gym, looking at what had the night before been the scene of a swinging beginning of the year dance. That same night, in a sort of alternate reality, this had also been the site the site of a ferocious battle against a XANAfied teddy bear. It seemed like more than just twelve hours since that chaotic and revealing scene. In truth, for Ulrich and the rest of the gang, it was. Fortunately, the rest of humanity would never know the truth of what happened here, or any other of the many times he and the crew had saved the surrounding area from imminent destruction.

As Tom entered the gymnasium, however, his mind was on a parallel track. He vaguely remembered a strange dream the previous night, something about a massive bear, gunfire, and a blinding light. It was almost déjà vu, Presque vu, and jamais vu all at once. It felt so familiar, and it was like his brain was trying to fight through an indestructible barrier to the truth, but at the same time it was an entirely new and separate sensation. The appearance of Yumi from the women's locker room shook him from his thoughts. Her appearance nearly stunned Tom. Dressed in a navy blue tank top and black athletic pants, Yumi looked absolutely amazing. He could tell that she took care of herself, glancing at her sculpted leg muscles and arms.

_Enough of that._ Tom thought. _Time to focus._ "So how do you want to do this?" he asked.

"Simple." Yumi replied. "It's one on one, and we play losers. The loser of the first battle takes on the spare, and the winner of that takes on the winner of the first. Got it?" Tom nodded. "Alright, matches last five minutes or until a participant submits by tap out. Ulrich and I will go first. Odd? You ready to keep time?"

Odd, sitting on a partially extended portion of retractable grandstands, nodded. He held Tom's Timex i-Control Ironman. "Whenever you're ready!" he called.

"OK! Begin!" Ulrich yelled. The two leapt into action.

Tom watched intently as the fight began, attempting to mentally dissect their combat tactics. He watched as Yumi danced around to her left, bending her knees and guarding with her left arm while her right remained withdrawn, ready to launch a powerful attack. Ulrich swept around perpendicular to his previous position, thus minimizing his profile and using his right arm to protect his flank while his left remained back. Tom recognized these stances as a modified form of Pencak Silat.

_A good choice,_ he thought. _It allows for a wide variety of techniques and weapon usage. Man, they're good!_ Yumi had just aimed a high kick at Ulrich, who had expertly dodged. He, in turn, dropped to one knee and aimed to sweep out her legs. Yumi deftly timed a remarkable flip, sending her over Ulrich's head as she used his shoulder's in a parallel bar fashion to propel herself. She attempted to put one arm underneath Ulrich's right shoulder and the other under his

neck to perform a sort of guillotine choke, just as Ulrich grabbed the arm snaking for his neck and sent Yumi flipping back over to his front. As she fell, Ulrich aimed a well-timed open-handed punch to her solar plexus.

In reflex, Yumi curled up the moment she hit the ground, groaning from the painful hit. Ulrich approached quickly, afraid that he might have seriously hurt her. _Oh, God!_ He thought to himself. _What have I done!_

Yumi smiled, her distraction had worked. She struck swiftly, shooting her legs out and wrapping them around Ulrich's, who quickly lost his balance and fell. With Ulrich still dazed, Yumi used the opportunity to leap on top of Ulrich and pin his arm. She began cranking it backwards until he cried out in pain, using his free hand to tap the floor underneath him, signifying his acquiescence. Yumi had beaten him.

"Two minutes and forty eight seconds!" Odd called from the grandstands as he read the time from Tom's watch. "Good job Yumi! I think that's a new record!"

Tom was impressed. Yumi knew how to strike quickly and use her gymnastic talents to her advantage. That combination was the key to her victory. Tom knew that if he hoped to defeat her, he had to deny her the use of the air and to keep combat close in order to prevent her from executing any potentially devastating aerobatic maneuvers.

Ulrich, though defeated, showed tremendous aptitude as well. He had excellent tactical awareness, great timing, and immense speed as well, evidenced by his brilliantly executed punch that _should_ have won him the fight had he not let his guard down. Tom, however, had found his weakness, and intended to exploit it.

"Need a minute?" he asked Ulrich, who was still breathing heavily and cranking out his arm, trying to work the pain that Yumi had caused out of it.

"No." he replied. "I'm ready whenever you are. Odd!" he called. "Reset the watch. Let's do this."

Tom watched as Ulrich assumed the same combat stance he used against Yumi. Tom, in turn, assumed one quite similar to Yumi's, but slightly modified to accompany a wider base and greater stability. Tom clenched and unclenched his fists. He exhaled sharply, readying his body for the fight to come.

"Nervous, Tom?" Ulrich asked with a bit of a sneer as he hopped slightly. "No worries, I'll go easy on you."

"Then you'll regret it."

Tom leapt into action, aiming a low sweeping kick to the inside of Ulrich's left knee. He cried out as he dropped to the floor, and instantly Tom was behind him. As Tom dropped to put him in a sleeper hold, Ulrich used Tom's lingering higher center of gravity to buck Tom over his

shoulder. Tom hit the ground on his back, rolling forward back onto his feet, facing _away_ from Ulrich.

Ulrich wasted no time leaping onto Tom's back, and attempting to use Tom's own sleeper hold on him. Tom dropped his chin to his chest, preventing Ulrich from snaking his arm around Tom's neck, then he jerked his head backwards into Ulrich's nose, causing blood to gush out of it and for Ulrich to instinctively cry out grab his nose. Tom used this momentary distraction to jab his elbows into the inside of Ulrich's thighs, causing them to separate and for Ulrich to drop to the floor behind him.

Tom backflipped and assumed a Jiu Jitsu side guard position on Ulrich's prone form. Tom began to wrench Ulrich's arm backwards, much as Yumi had to him. The pain in Ulrich's arm became unbearable. He tapped out. Tom let go and rolled to the side, breathing heavily.

"'Ow?" Ulrich asked, blood streaming from his nose "'Ow can I sug so bad?"

"Nah, you were really good." Tom replied. "Sorry about the nose, man."

"Thangs a lot, abshole." Ulrich said, laughing. Tom broke out laughing as well. He raised his head and cocked an eyebrow at a still stunned Odd.

"How was my time?"

Odd snapped out of it "Uh, shit. Ummm… like a minute twenty two?" Odd cracked up, and Yumi broke down as well.

"Shit, Tom! I think you'd give me a definite run for my money, if not a run from the nose!"

After a couple minutes of laughter, the gang finally settled into a contented silence. Ulrich and Tom still laid stretched out on the floor staring at the ceiling, listening to the rain pound the gym's roof. It was Odd who asked the question that was on the minds of most in the room.

"Where'd you learn to fight like that, Tom?"

Tom sniffed. "My father."

"Eh?"

"My dad taught me pretty much everything. He insisted that I learn how to defend myself. He was—" Tom was cut off by three sharp beeps from his cell phone, sitting next to his raincoat on the stands behind him. Tom hauled himself up and walked over to the phone, flipping it open. The phone had received an SMS message.

"Speak of the devil!" Tom continued. "The folks want to have a word. Yumi, our duel will have to wait, ok?" The rest of the group said their goodbyes as Tom gathered his belongings and made for the locker room to exit out into the main classroom sections.

When Tom had told Odd, Ulrich and Yumi the folks wanted a word, they had assumed he meant his parents, and Tom was not going to correct that assumption. In truth, Command had sent him a coded message requesting him to make contact immediately. He wanted to do this in private, and so he had gone through the school's corridors, knowing that it was Saturday and that they would be deserted. Once he had gone far enough and made sure no one was around and was satisfied he wasn't followed, Tom flipped open his phone, extended the antenna and proceeded to dial the Sat link's number. The phone rang twice and stopped. Tom entered a string of five numbers and heard four fast busy flashes, when the phone proceeded to ring again. This time a mechanical male voice answered.

"Code in."

"Captain Thomas James Walker. 043-1120-0203-TW."

"Extension?"

"C.O. office."

"Thank you."

The phone proceeded to ring in earnest now. After three rings, the voice of the Major answered.

"Hello?" came the gruff voice.

"Falcon Six reporting in." Tom replied.

"Ah, Tom, how are you?

"Fine, Dad." Tom said sarcastically, thinking of the coded text message identifying the Major as his father.

"Very funny. Now listen up, we've got some serious business to deal with."

"You're talking about the temporal anomaly last night?"

"Exactly." Replied the Major. "Our scientists have been able to narrow the time frame of the anomaly. They say they used quantum calculations in non-Einsteinian space-time to locate the continuum rift."

"And that means?"

"Nothing. They just wanted to let you know it was very hard."

Tom laughed. The science wonks at UNESCO really lived in a world of their own.

"So what's the time frame?" he asked, getting back to the topic at hand.

"They tell me that they've narrowed the divergence point from nominal reality to somewhere between 1530 and 1915 hours, meaning they pinpointed the anomaly as occurring at around 7:15 PM local time and reverting back to about 3:30 PM. Does that help things at all for you?"

"Um…" Tom closed his eyes, memory flashing through the previous day's events. Once again, he thought of the dream he had last night. The bear and the gunfire he was willing to dismiss as the bizarre manifestations of dream-space, but the blinding white light bugged him. He had heard something about how lighting changes almost never occur within a dream. Tom ruminated in silence for almost a full minute before he realized someone was talking to him.

"—ello? Tom, c'mon, satellite time's expensive. What have you got for me?" the Major asked impatiently.

"Uh, shit, sorry sir. Um, as far as I can tell, none of the subjects could have been involved in that timeframe. For the most part, we all hung out together. And not one of them was out of my sight for more than half an hour, insufficient time for one of them to get to the factory and back and have any time to actually—wait." An idea had dawned on Tom. "Sir, I may have been following around the wrong subjects."

"What do you mean? We have the wrong people? Intel was quite certain—."

"No, I mean the wrong versions of the same subjects. Think about it. If they have control of time travel, they can simply have two iterations of the same person; one to continue out their normal lives, one to operate behind the scenes. Think _Back to the Future II_." Tom concluded.

"Tom, that's just not possible." The Major replied. "The scientists have fervently noted that the temporal anomalies are global, not local. They affect _everybody_. Such phenomena as you describe would only be possible if you could-ah, 'localize the time shift,' as the scientists say. Nobody is left behind as a second copy, and everything is affected."

"Great." Tom grumbled. "So where does that leave us?" _Aside from square one_, he thought.

"I think the answer is simple." The Major answered. "You have to go to the factory yourself. If you bug the place, we'll be able to tell exactly what's going on."

Tom sighed. He knew this was coming. He had already made contact and established a semblance of confidence with the subjects, next was to infiltrate their operation, literally. Tom knew that if they found out, it would blow his cover wide open. He'd have to tread carefully.

"Where are the bugs?" Tom asked.

"Locker 42, combination 5115. I want a progress report on Operation: Lone Eagle by the end of today. And, be careful." The Major added.

"Aye, sir. Walker out." Tom hung up the phone and set off back towards the gymnasium, already planning out what he was going to tell the subjects.

* * *

**So there you have it, folks. The first chapter of my first original episode. I've done my job, now it's time to do yours. What did you think of the fight scene, or anything else for that matter? Have any suggestions, comments, or questions? Am I sounding a bit too much like a supermarket question box in these author's notes? Lets have some _reviews_! I'm open to anything.**

**Here I'll even help you out a bit with a question to answer: What should Tom's weapon be on Lyoko? (Because he will eventually get there, oh yes, he will...) About the only criteria I can offer is that it has to involve lasers and be of relatively decent range.**

**Have at it! And stick around for the next chapter...**


	7. Operation: Lone Eagle: Chapter 2

**(Chapter Two-The Coming Storm)  
**_Kadic International Academy__  
Dining Hall  
10:25 Hours_

The rest of the group, however, was nowhere near the gym by the time Tom got back there. Ulrich had gone to the infirmary to get some gauze for his bleeding nose, Jeremy was back at the dorm hacking into the school's student database, and Odd and Yumi headed for breakfast. Yumi was trying to discuss "the Walker situation", as they had dubbed it, with Odd, who would respond with a sentence or two between mouthfuls of powdered eggs.

"Fo' shoo' 'is performansh wash unberevable," he said, biting into a banana, "but 'umon! I could kick 'is ash!"

"Ugh, c'mon Odd!" Yumi cried in disgust. "I know English isn't your first language, but you don't have to butcher it with a mouthful of food!"

"_Tu pense que c'est facile parler avec la norriture_ _dans vos bouche?_" Odd began in a lecturing tone. "_Pas du tout! C'est un science, une langue nouvelle, un-_"

"STOP!" Yumi yelled, massaging her temples. A number of heads in the cafeteria turned to look at the source of the yell. "Look, stop speaking French _now_ or I'll be forced to drop some Japanese on you the likes of which you've _never_ seen. My tirade at Sissi last week was _nothing_ compared to what I'm capable of." Yumi looked coldly at Odd, whose mouth still hung open in fear of Yumi's sudden outburst. Slowly, however, the grim lines on her face cracked, and her body shook with suppressed laughter. Eventually, she could contain it no longer, as she and Odd broke into full scale guffaws.

"God!" Yumi said between laughs. "You should have seen the look on your face!"

"Aww, gee, what'd he do now?" Said the voice of Jeremy from behind her. They turned to face him as he slid into a seat next to Odd, placing a tray full of brownish mush down in front of him. The other two just shook their heads and chuckled some more.

"So how'd your research go?" Odd asked.

"Well," Jeremy replied, "I cracked into the school's record database and dug up most of Tom's file. On the outside, it seemed pretty normal. Standard admissions application, foreign language examinations scores, previous academic history, you know, the same general stuff that you had to fill out to come here." They both nodded. "Well, I noticed an interesting anomaly in—what the hell happened to you?" Jeremy asked, looking up as Ulrich sat down next to Yumi, a large wad of cotton Curlex sticking out from his right nostril.

"Don't ask. You find out any information on our new friend?"

"As I was saying," Jeremy continued, "I noticed an interesting irregularity in the indexing for his 

files. There was a whole other subset of files and paperwork filed additionally and separately from his standard file. It was mostly financial information, but by running a keyword search algorithm, I was able to find out that Tom's stay here is largely due to a scholarship from an organization called UNESCO."

"The UN education commission?" Yumi asked. "Bizarre. I've never heard of them giving a scholarship to an expensive institution like Kadic."

"Yeah, and it gets weirder! When I tried to backtrace the data further to find out how Tom got this scholarship, I'm directed to a web page that claims it doesn't exist. No matter how many different routes I take, I end up at the same page with the same 404 error."

"You mean like when a browser can't find a web page?" Odd asked. "Are you sure you entered the address correctly?" Everyone just stared at him. "What, so geniuses can't make mistakes, too? Then fine, what's your explanation then, Einstein?"

"Well, I pinged the IP address of the website, it definitely exists. And if I trace the outgoing packets, I find that my computer _is_ receiving data from the website, but the code is running behind the scenes, and the packets are scrambled. I can't tell what it's doing" Jeremy said, spooning up a large mound of oatmeal.

"So what's your next step?" Ulrich asked.

"Well, I have a compiler program running on the incoming packets. It'll put them in the most logical order and then I'll be able to look at them and find out just what the hell is going on. That'll take about a half an hour, so I figured I'd get some food." Jeremy raised the spoon to his face and sniffed, his nose wrinkling in disgust. "Think it's safe?" he asked.

"I wouldn't bet on it." Ulrich replied. He poked the mush with Odd's straw. "I think I saw it move." With that, Jeremy dropped the spoon and pushed the tray over to Odd, who had been eyeing it hungrily. Jeremy grabbed a banana off the tray as Odd dug into the grey goop. "In the meantime," Ulrich continued as Jeremy peeled the banana, "let me tell you about the amazing display of physical prowess Tom displayed to us in the gym…"

_Men's Dormitory Room 24-Jeremy Belpois/Thomas Walker  
10:32 hours_

Tom slid his Sig Sauer into his shoulder holster before pulling his raincoat on. He wanted to hurry and get out of the room before the others came back and he had to explain why he was going out into a city he knew little about in the middle of a massive rainstorm. As he crouched down to tie up his sneakers, Tom noticed a flurry of activity from Jeremy's computer set up. Tom moved over for a closer look.

When Tom had first moved in, he'd commented about his roommate's sweet rig. Jeremy had blown him off with a statement about how his parents bought it for him and was very expensive and that Tom was not to touch it without Jeremy's approval. Naturally Tom was curious and 

wanted to have a poke around, so he shook the mouse, waking the computer from its screen saver. Tom looked at the screen as it warmed up. It showed a serious-looking program window with the words "Packet Compiling-42 complete" and "Time Remaining-19:23" next to a progress bar showing a visual representation of the program's progress. Lines of code flowed at blinding speed through a window at the bottom of the screen.

Tom winced. This wasn't his forte, but he knew enough about computers to know that this wasn't something to be messed with right now. He still had to get out of there before Jeremy and the others got back. He finished tying his shoes and left the room, continuing down the stairwell and out under the awning that covered much of the length of Kadic's exterior. The rain continued to pound down in buckets, and Tom stopped to look at a nearby storm drain. The rain had filled the drain almost to the point of overflowing. Tom poked his head from under the awning and shook his head. They were going to have major flooding problems soon if this rain didn't let up.

Tom reached the end of the awning and paused, steeling himself from the coming onslaught. He inhaled, and set off at a full sprint towards his bunker and the factory.

_NOAA Atlantic Coast Regional Office_

_Eastern United States  
Analysis Room-European Desk_

It was 5:30 in the morning, and Ted Pierce was tired. Ted was in the unfortunate position of being one of a few graduate meteorology students currently employed by the United States' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which largely meant that he and the few other interns scattered around the office were up early on Saturday mornings doing bitch work for their superiors.

This week, they had to prepare a findings summary on the North Atlantic current, a strange underwater "river" of sorts flowing from the east coast of the United States all the way to Europe. Apparently, some Senator or Cabinet secretary had decided it was worth it to discuss the possibility of climate change and its effect on the oceans. The word had been passed down from underling to underling until it finally landed on Ted's lap at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon. His boss had then spent a half hour grinding into him the importance of government funding and how this senior official held the purse strings and blah, blah, blah. Ted got the picture. Bigwig with big money wants big info that he probably won't have time to read anyway.

Regardless, here he was sitting with his head down on his desk while the rest of the interns in the office were busy mining data from the vast databases that NOAA had on the North Atlantic current. Ted had come down here because he figured that whoever received this report might want some current data not to read along with the rest of it.

Ted knocked a crushed Red Bull can into the trash bin as he pulled up the current weather data for Europe. After several moments of chugging, the computer spat up an error message. Europe was out of range of satellite coverage. He had to wait another few minutes for the next weather satellite to come in to range. He cursed silently and dug another Red Bull out from his desk drawer. _Man,_ he mused, cracking open the can, _if only we had real, full-time satellite coverage like the NRO does…yeah right._ Ted knew that NOAA would never receive the kind of funding the National Reconnaissance Office did. He took a swig of the slightly warm energy drink and grimaced. He really should have a mini-fridge put into his desk, he thought. That would make things so much more-

"You got another one of those?" the voice came from Adam, another intern who was stuck here at this terrible hour.

"Sure." Ted replied, "They're a little warm though."

Adam shrugged and accepted the can, cracking it open and chugging through a good portion of it before stopping and wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. "So whatcha up to?" he asked.

"Just grabbing some current weather data from Europe. I figure if we can give this guy a current example, it might strike home the importance of the current with everyday weather patterns. Satellite's out of range now, but we should have one coming up soon."

Adam nodded as the two sat in silence. "This sucks, man." He said.

"Yeah, but what are you going to do?" The computer chimed. "Looks like we're finally gonna get some data." Ted said as the image of Continental Europe began to resolve on the screen. "Let's see what we got—whoa!"

"What, what is it?" Adam slid a chair right next to Ted's.

"Look at that system over Western Europe. It's HUGE!" Ted turned the monitor to show Adam. It was true, there was a massive storm system currently churning its way down from the English Channel. Another was winding its way up the coast of Spain. A _third_ was rising out of the Mediterranean and-

"Is that another system headed west out of the Balkans?" Adam asked, pointing at the screen. "That's really fuckin' weird!"

"Yeah, it is. Kelly!" Ted called out.

"Yeah?" A red-headed intern called back.

"You know how to run a storm track, right?" She yelled in affirmative "OK, can you gimme a backtrace and a track on four storms around Western Europe? Meanwhile," he said, shoving Adam out of the way "I've gotta call the Goddard Space Center, make sure we aren't getting a feed echo."

"Why? What's the big deal?"

Ted turned to face Adam. "Because if this storm track is true, France, Germany, and most the rest of Europe is in big trouble. Western Europe is going to get pasted. I just wouldn't want to be anywhere _near_ there when it does."

Meanwhile, on Lyoko, a red tower stood in the middle of the forest region, as dozens of pulsations rushed in towards it. Two blocks walked in patrol fashion around it, waiting for intruders.

Across Lyoko in the desert region, the ground shook with the vibration of the pulsations, startling Aelita.

XANA was striking again.

* * *

**Sorry for not updating sooner, everyone. I've been out touring Europe and spending a lot of money. Quite fun.**

**Anyway, I'm back now and should hopefully be updating with some more regularity. I'm still waiting on an answer to last chapter's question. What should Tom's weapon be?**

**Stick around for the next chapter!**

* * *


	8. Operation: Lone Eagle: Chapter 3

**(Chapter Three-Terminal Viscosity)**

_UN Bunker ESL-117__  
Armory  
10:45 hours_

It was the wettest 10 minutes of Tom's life. The trip to the bunker had taken longer than anticipated, and his shoes, socks and pants were absolutely drenched. His raincoat had held out ok, though, and he had set the rest of his clothes by the vent to a heating duct to hopefully dry out. In a week.

He changed into a set of fatigues reserved for the Special Forces, known colloquially as a "sneaking suit". It was a steel grey BDU with thin integrated Kevlar body armor which would supposedly stop a 9mm round. It came equipped with silent equipment straps and was woven with a special fiber to maintain body heat. It also would repel water better than his cotton clothing would. Tom affixed his pistol into the holster and set about the business of why he had come here in the first place.

Tom scanned quickly through an inventory listing he had printed out from the computer in the other room, ensuring that locker 42 would actually have all of the equipment he needed to fully bug the factory. He winced as he glanced at the sheet. 15 bugs, each the size of a drop of paint, would only cover about 2/3 of the factory's floor space. _I'm going to have to think tactically about this one_. Tom thought. _I'll just have to find the specific place where the subjects congregate_.

He shrugged. He'd have to see what conditions were when he got there. He punched in the code on the locker's keypad, which beeped and clicked as the electronic tumbler turned, granting him access. He withdrew the small plastic case containing the bugs, also retrieving the small activation tool that would also act as a sort of temporary switchboard, allowing him to listen to the bugs until he could rig up a more permanent system. A small pair of earbud headphones accompanied the kit. He placed them all on interior pockets of his sneaking suit, hoping to keep the bugging kit dry. He also checked out a small filament mic from the armory as well, selecting a digital sound recorder to accompany it. This way, he could construct an audio map of the factory should he be unable to directly provide a description. He stuck the mic over his ear and placed the recorder in his pocket. The mic was similar to what Navy SEALs used on their missions, and was capable of withstanding prolonged total immersion in water, making it ideal for surviving the torrent that was the coming trip to the factory.

_Here we go again._ Tom told himself as he exited the bunker. _Time to sack up._ Tom grunted and lifted off the manhole cover, and was instantly greeted by a deluge of rainwater. He scurried up the ladder and quickly kicked the cover into place, sealing it from the elements. He looked at the surrounding area. The rain was so thick, it was hard to see more than 10 feet in any direction. Tom fortunately remembered his bearings and crashed through the forest back towards the path to the factory. _To hell with stealth,_ Tom reasoned, _I just want to get out of this fucking storm!_

_Men's Dormitories__  
Second Floor Hallway  
1058 hours_

_Squish! Squish! Squeak! Bubble, Squish! Squish! Squeak!_

The crew had finished breakfast and had managed to survive the wettest run back to the dorms of their lives, and were now sloshing their way down the hall to their rooms. Yumi was trying to wring out her hair, while Odd shook like a dog to dry himself off. Ulrich opened his door.

"Hang on a sec, guys. I'll get some towels." Ulrich squished his way into his room and returned with four towels. "Just one of you is going to have to use one of Odd's." Nobody made a grab for it.

"Which one is it?" Jeremy asked.

Odd, who had already grabbed his current towel, spun angrily to face Jeremy. "Hey! It should be an honor to use something that has touched this body! I'll have you know that I took on a megatank all by myself last night!"

Ulrich shrugged. "I wasn't there."

"Yeah, where's your proof?" Yumi smiled.

"Jeremy, back me up on this!"

Jeremy just shrugged and unlocked his door. "I have no clue what you're talking about. I'll just get my own towel." Odd fumed behind him.

Jeremy entered his room. "Tom, you there?" Silence. Jeremy flicked on the light. No Tom. He looked around a bit and saw Tom's gym clothes kicked over by his laundry hamper, and a recently used towel by Tom's bed. Jeremy grabbed his own towel and turned back to the crew.

"Why do you have to be such a prick!" Odd was asking Ulrich. "You honestly don't think I could take on a megatank by myself?"

"Well, maybe if it was missing a half, couldn't roll, and had a target the size of the Mediterranean, then you might be able to—"

"Nah, he did it." Jeremy replied. "I think he just got lucky. Anyway, Tom's gone, and I think my program's done."

"Where'd he go?" Ulrich asked. "Did he leave a note?"

"Nope, just disappeared. C'mon, I want to check this thing out." The crew filed into Jeremy's room. He walked over and woke up the computer. The screen now read "Packet Compile Complete—Page decrypted. View now?" Jeremy plopped down in his chair and clicked "Yes." Everyone gathered around as the screen resolved itself into a fairly simple webpage. It was a 

black background with a blue horizontal bar separating the page title from the rest of it. The title read "UNSC Secure Server—Level 2 Access Required." To its left was a small logo-sized image of an eagle perched atop the globe of the UN flag. In the eagle's mouth was balanced a set of scales. The page itself was simple, just a username and password prompt, but Jeremy was sure that a website like this would have greater security than just a password.

"The plot thickens." Ulrich stated.

"Yeah, this just made things a whole lot more interesting…" Jeremy replied.

"Can you hack into it?" Yumi asked.

"I'm not sure I even should be looking at it. Who knows what kind of security-"

Jeremy was cut off by a blinding flash of light and a loud CRASH of extremely nearby lightening. The computer screen wobbled and the lights flickered and dimmed, but stayed on.

"JESUS!" yelled Odd. "That was fucking close!"

"No kidding!" Ulrich replied. "I thought that hit the damn building!"

"Yeah, that's it." Said Jeremy. "I'm not staying online anymore than necessary. I just want to check in with Aelita then I'm shutting down." He typed a few commands into the keyboard and put on a headset mic. "Aelita? Do you read me?"

After a few seconds of silence, a familiar face appeared on the screen.

"Jeremy? Jeremy, at last!" Aelita said, sounding relieved. "I've been trying to get through to you for a while, but there's been a lot of interference on your end."

"Yeah, there's a pretty bad storm out here. What's up? Is everything alright?"

"No! XANA is attacking! It has to be big, because I felt the pulsations all the way in the desert sector, and there's no active tower here!"

"Shit." Odd cursed. "You sure princess? That's a pretty quick turnaround for XANA, and a long way to go in the rain, if you know what I mean."

"Of course!" Yumi cried. "It's the storm! Jeremy, pull up a weather map of the area." Jeremy clicked at his computer for a few moments, pulling up a Doppler scan of Western Europe. What he saw almost made him gasp.

"Ho-ly shit." Ulrich said. Almost the entire region was covered in bright red, indicating the heaviest rainfall. The map almost looked like a target, with the area of highest rain forming a bulls-eye on their immediate area, decreasing in intensity as it moved away from Paris. An emergency notice on the side of the screen announced that over a meter of rain was supposed to 

fall over the area in the next few hours, and that citizens should remain inside and ensure that they had adequate provisions for a flooding crisis. "He's trying to wash us away."

"Well, I don't think we have any other choice." Jeremy stated. "We head to the factory. We have to deactivate this thing before XANA washes away the entire region. Aelita, see if you can't locate that tower for us, we'll be there soon."

"OK, just be careful! If the storm's as bad as they say, you migh-" Aelita was cut off as there was another massive flash of lightening and a deafening boom, and Jeremy's room was plunged into darkness.

_The Factory  
Main Entrance  
1104 Hours_

Tom couldn't believe he made it. Visibility was poor, he could barely see a few feet in front of himself as he ran. He'd even almost blundered into a tree at times, but eventually the mushy grass of the forest gave way to the concrete of the bridge on the approach to the factory. _It's lucky I remember the sat photos, or I wouldn't have had any idea where this place was._ Tom thought. Tom ran to the entrance to the factory and paused just inside the door to catch his breath. He peeked his head out and heard the roar of water coupled with the pounding rain and howling wind. He looked down and could barely make out a torrent of water below, surging down the river. He could actually see the water level rising against the river bank 10 feet below.

Tom reached underneath his coat, ensuring his equipment was still dry. He then flicked on the filament mic. It was wet, but functional. He began recording.

"Agent Walker recording audio layout of suspect factory. Approaching from the east side, there appears to be some kind of concrete bridge leading to a large opening, big enough to accommodate 18 wheelers. Entering the structure now."

Tom entered the factory and took stock of what he saw. "Factory is arranged on a bi-level layout. Entrance is located on the second level. A ring of catwalk surrounds the factory floor below. Planting bug at entrance point." Tom knelt down and placed the paintdrop-sized bug near the frame of the door. A quick check on the switchboard ensured it was functioning. Tom got up and began looking for a way down to the factory floor below. He spied two ropes stretching down to the floor. Making note of it through the mic, he grabbed hold and rappelled down, his boots touching the ground soundlessly.

Tom debated where to go next. _The factory is huge, and I don't have time or a sufficient amount of bugs to wire the whole place._ He began looking around for a clue as to where to move to next, when off to his left he spotted something out of the ordinary.

A skateboard.

Moving closer, Tom saw that the skateboard was stashed along with a pair of flashlights and a 

case of water bottles next to an elevator with a large red button on it and a heavy rolling steel door. Tom ran his finger along the top of the case. _No dust._ He thought. _It's recent._ Tom also saw footprints in the factory's dusty floor leading into the elevator. Tom made note of the elevator and planted a bug by it, once again confirming it worked. Tom again spoke into the mic. "The elevator is accessed by a single button, with no evidence of security present. Proceeding with investigation of lower floors." Tom hit the button and the steel door rolled up. Tom stepped into the elevator and drew his pistol. He didn't know what to expect at the bottom of the shaft, but he wanted to be ready for anything.

_Lyoko  
__Forest Sector  
Meanwhile…_

Aelita was worried. She exited the forest region's central way tower and looked around. Nothing.

Jeremy and the others had been cut off abruptly, and she hadn't been able to achieve a connection to the school's network. She hoped her friends were okay… She set off running down the path leading away from the tower. Nothing yet.

Her connection into the power company's grid monitor showed that power was out to most of the surrounding area, which probably accounted for why she couldn't get in touch with Jeremy. She still worried, though. If there was a really bad storm outside, it might be dangerous for the others to get to the factory-

Aelita stopped. She felt a tremor running through the ground beneath her. She could almost see the digital ground ripple as it led off to the path on her right.

_Pulsations._ She thought. _I'd better be careful._ Aelita slunk her way along the path, following the direction of the tremors. With luck, they would show her the way to XANA's activated tower.

_Kadic Academy  
Men's Dormitories-Room 24  
1115 hours_

The power still hadn't come back on, the rain seemed to be pounding with a renewed fury, and Jeremy was beginning to get agitated. He had begun pacing, but ended up walking into too many objects strewn about his room, even after Odd and Ulrich had set up flashlights around the room. Finally, Jeremy had enough. He stood up suddenly from his bed.

"Look! This is taking way to long, and Aelita might be in danger! We need to go to Lyoko _now_!" He slammed his fist into his hand.

"We know, Jer, we're just as anxious as you are," Yumi reassured him. "but we have to consider our options. In this weather, getting to the factory is going to be extremely difficult."

"Look, why don't we just go through the boiler room?" Ulrich asked. "We can minimize our 

exposure to the elements and get to the factory fast."

"Yeah, great plan!" Odd responded. "My hair gets all messed up when it's wet."

"That would be great," Yumi added, "except for the fact that it goes through the sewer system."

"Yes, and with the amount of rain that's been falling, they're guaranteed to be flooded by now." Jeremy said.

"So going through the sewers is completely out?" Odd asked. Jeremy nodded. "Wait, you don't expect us to… _walk_ there, do you?" he continued.

"It's our only choice." Yumi told him.

"Aww, man!" Odd yelled. "Fuck it, fine. Just let me get some plastic bags."

"Plastic bags?" Ulrich sounded incredulous. "What for?"

"Look, if it's raining that hard out there, we're going to be absolutely soaked by the time we get to the factory, and if you think that I'm going to Lyoko with wet, itchy drawers, you are very much mistaken." With that, Odd left the room.

"You know," Yumi began. "He does make a good point." Jeremy and Ulrich just stared at her. "Not about the underwear, about how hard it's raining! You can't see more than a few feet in front of you, and we don't have time for anyone to get lost."

"Yeah," Jeremy replied. "If there was some way we could connect ourselves together, we could guarantee that no one got lost."

"Of course!" Ulrich yelled. "There's a bit of rope inside the maintenance shed. It should be plenty to do the job!"

"How will we ensure we don't get lost, though?" Jeremy asked.

"Look, we've been to the factory dozens of times. We can find our way there no problem." Said Odd, who had just walked in. Plastic bags stuck out of his pants' waistband, and there was a large cubic bulge in his raincoat pocket.

"Well, as long as you're-wait, what the hell is that?" Ulrich asked, pointing to Odd's pocket.

"It's my companion brick." Odd beamed proudly as he pulled it out. Different weather symbols were drawn on each of the sides. The others just stared at him dumbly.

"Com-companion brick?" Yumi asked, too confused to laugh. "What in God's name is it for?"

"It's a prototype of my invention. Each one has a personality and a lucky omen. Mine wards off 

bad weather!" Odd smiled.

"So, it's a brick?" Jeremy asked.

"Exactly! It's like a "Beanie Baby" with almost no cost of production! Once I start marketing these, people everywhere will want them! I'll be a millionaire!" Odd tossed it up and down.

"You know, someone's tried that before." Ulrich told him. "It was called the pet rock."

"What?" Odd looked genuinely confused. "A rock? A pet _rock_? Why the hell would you ever want to buy a rock? Mine's completely different! It's better than a rock! It's –"

"A brick?" Ulrich finished. Jeremy and Yumi burst out laughing.

"Fine, mock it all you want! But it's coming with us, and when they become a huge fad, _none_ of you will get to have one!" Odd huffed.

"Alright, bring it along, but let's get going." Jeremy told them. "We're running out of time!"

_Supercomputer Control Room  
The Factory  
1121 hours_

Tom was angry.

It had taken Tom only a minute to realize that the elevator required a coded entry on a keypad, but he couldn't figure out how to crack it. _Damn, I don't have a spoofer to crack the code with or a screwdriver to crack the case open with. I can't get this goddamn thing to move!_ Tom thought. He had briefly considered shooting it, but he realized that its destruction would make his presence known, and he wasn't about to alert the subjects that someone had tried to break into the factory.

Not quite willing to resolve himself to guesswork just yet, Tom stepped out of the elevator and continued searching the factory. He had time, he figured. He'd see what else he could find in the factory first.

_Lyoko__  
Forest Sector  
Meanwhile…_

Aelita had been tailing the pulsations when she heard it. The sound of trouble.

_ClickityClickityClickityClickityClickityClickityClickity!_

She looked up and gasped. Two blocks were coming down the path towards her. She dove for cover behind a nearby rock on the right side of the path, hoping the monsters hadn't caught sight of her yet. She waited until they were almost right next to her to shift around to the right of the rock, shielding her from the block's omni-directional vision. She slid by just in time, and the monsters continued past her. She slid around again to watch them scurry off down the path in the direction of the pulsations. Aelita peeked her head above the rock to watch them.

_Perfect!_ She thought. _If I can tail them without being seen, they can lead me right to the tower!_ She waited until her hiding spot was sufficiently out of their field of vision, and took off after them, careful to ensure she wasn't seen.

* * *

**Back again, and I assure you things are rolling right along here on Day of the Eagle. I've altered the order of the first chapters a bit to (hopefully) entice some new readers. You old timers stay tuned, because shit's about to go down in the next chapter. As always, I live for reviews. Or money. If you're so inclined, send either my way. Standard messaging rates apply.  
**


	9. Operation: Lone Eagle: Chapter 4

**(Chapter Four-Hell is High Water)**

_Kadic Academy__  
Exterior Overhang  
1125 hours_

The door from the dormitories burst open. Four figures stood silhouetted inside.

"Okay." Yumi said, zipping up her raincoat. "How far is it from the overhang to the shed?"

"50 meters to the cafeteria, then another 120 to the shed." Ulrich replied.

"And you're sure the rope is there?"

"I saw it in there yesterday." Odd told her. She nodded.

"Okay, you all have your whistles?" They nodded. "Remember, when you hear the whistle in front of you blow, blow yours. If you lose the group, give it three short blasts and we will find you. Try and keep water out of it or it might not work, so shield it with your hand when you blow."

"That's what she said." Odd snickered. Yumi just glared at him.

"You guys ready?" Ulrich asked. The group nodded again.

"Okay, let's go!" Yumi shouted, and she took off into the rain. Jeremy followed, then Ulrich. Odd brought up the rear.

It was an instant washout. The rain pounded down in thick, fat drops so hard it was almost painful. Yumi could hardly see a few feet in front of her, feet slopping through a few inches of water that couldn't drain off. She tried to visualize what the courtyard looked like on a normal, bright and shiny day at Kadic. She got her bearings and blew the whistle to let everyone know the right direction.

_Breeeet!_ It called. She heard the sound of three other whistles behind her. _So far, so good._ She thought, and she continued to the rest point at the cafeteria.

It took three or four more whistle checks to get there, and when they finally did they collapsed against the side of the building. Jeremy looked miserable, Odd shivered, and Ulrich was breathing heavily, spitting rainwater from his mouth.

"Okay!" Yumi called over the pounding torrent. "You guys ready for round two?" Jeremy groaned and Odd sneezed. Ulrich just looked up and nodded. "Alright, let's move quickly! Every second counts!" With that, they darted back out into the storm, minds focused on one thing: someplace dry.

_The Factory  
__Cathedral Hall  
1131 hours_

_Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!_

Tom's hand tapped against the metal side of the elevator. He just couldn't figure it out. He scratched his chin and sighed.

He'd spent the past 10 minutes surveying the rest of the factory. He had found a lot of interesting stuff; a machine shop, a generator room, even a main assembly line filled with robots, but nothing to suggest that anyone had been there in quite some time. That led him back to this elevator.

_So how do you get down a coded elevator without the code, and with no immediate way of deciphering it?_ Tom mused. He kicked the wall, frustrated. _I guess I really don't have a choice but to try a little guesswork…_

He opened the keypad and started imputing numbers. He input the date, yesterday's date, Jeremy's birthday, Ulrich's birthday, Odd's birthday, Yumi's birthday, his own birthday, their names spelled out in numbers, every significant combination he could think of. In the end, he was back leaning against the wall, tapping his hand.

_Looks like I'm probably going to have to free climb the shaft._ He thought. Tom grimaced. He wasn't the world's biggest fan of heights, despite his HALO jump two nights ago. Tom stretched out and cracked his back, craning his neck up to work out any kinks. As he did, his eyes opened and he stopped moving.

"You've got to be kidding." He muttered as he pulled the rolling door down manually, which gave a few inches of play before locking. There, scratched onto the inside of the door, were two series of numbers. Tom grinned widely as he let the door close and input the first series.

_8,0,3,1_ he thought. _How perfectly simple._

Tom hit the button to activate the elevator, letting out a small whoop when the steel door began to roll down. _Finally, some action!_

_Kadic Academy  
Maintenance Shed  
Minutes later…_

Yumi crumpled against the wall, breathing hard. She had never realized just how taxing moving through this kind of weather was.

"Okay, we're here!" Odd called out. "Now what?"

"Let's get the rope!" Ulrich called to him. He moved up and tried the door. "It's locked!"

"Dammit, why?" Yumi responded.

"I don't know!"

"Can you pick it?"

"Dude, I can't see two feet in front of my fucking face!"

"Fine, how do we get in?"

Jeremy suddenly piped up. "Odd, the brick!"

"Yeah," Odd responded "Everybody, move back!" Odd picked his brick up and hurled it through the window next to the door. He reached in and unlocked the door. The crew burst in, happy to be out of the rain.

"I meant" Jeremy gasped for air "use it to bash the handle off."

"Oh." Odd replied. "Well, my way was a lot cooler."

Ulrich found the rope and spent the next few minutes tying his friends into it. He tied himself as lead this time.

"Alright." He said, facing his companions "I've given you guys a few meters worth of leeway between each other. We're going to move relatively fast, so be ready. If you need a break, one sharp blast on the whistle or a quick jerk on the line. Remember, three quick blasts if you get lost, got it?" Everyone nodded. "Okay, let's move out." Ulrich psyched himself up mentally, and burst out the door and back into the rain once more.

_The Factory  
Supercomputer Control Room  
1142 hours_

Tom whistled. He still couldn't believe the sight before his eyes.

When the blast doors had slid open, he'd had no idea what to expect. He'd swept in, pistol drawn, looking for security devices. Much to his surprise, there were none. Instead, at the center of the room, stood the most elaborate computer setup he'd ever seen.

An array of computer monitors was suspended by a long arm from the ceiling down to the intricate workstation below. A chair sat by the entrance to the elevator, with a track running around what looked like a large holographic projector in the middle to the workstation across the room. The entire room had a kind of iridescent green sterility about it, Tom noticed as he looked up to the roof. He had just realized how massive the room was; at least two stories tall with 

heavy duty support rafters leading up to the roof. The room looked now exceedingly like a bunker as opposed to a laboratory. Tom was silent for a moment.

_If I built a machine to alter time, this is what it would look like._ Tom thought. He holstered his pistol and walked over to the workstation, placing the sound recorder next to the keyboard. He shook the mouse to wake the computer. The screens popped on, and the centermost one displayed a password prompt.

_Damn, not this again!_ Tom cursed as he tried the same set of numbers that had gained him access to the lab in the first place. The machine churned for a moment before the words "ACCESS DENIED" popped up on the screen in big, red block letters. Tom swore again.

_Fine, I'll gain access later. Now I just need to focus on bugging this place._

Odd, meanwhile, at the back of the line, was miserable. _Why the rain?_ He thought to himself. _Why not a snowstorm, something fun like that? I _hate_ getting wet! Oh, my God, I'm turning into a cat!_ He started laughing as he ran, his thoughts forming into an old rock song, with a plodding beat and a mucky sounding guitar. He laughed some more when he realized what the song was.

_If it keeps on rainin', levee's going to break.  
If it keeps on rainin', levee's going to break.  
When the levee breaks, I'll have no place to stay…_

The crew entered Kadic's park, the footpaths churned into mud.

_Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan, Lord.  
The mean old levee, she taught me to weep and moan!  
It's got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home  
Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well…_

They continued their run, visibility still very poor. Odd's foot sloshed through a puddle several inches deep. He cursed and kept running, hoping Ulrich knew where the hell he was going.

_I'm gonna make you feel bad when you're tryin' to find your way home,  
You don't know which way to go.  
If you're heading down south, they've got no work to do,  
If you don't know about Chicago._

A sharp _Breeeeet!_ In front of him told him that it was time for a rest. The group circled together, heads down, panting.

"Hey, Ulrich." Odd began between breaths. "You sure you know where we are?"

"Yup." He replied, pointing at the ground. "And _that_ is why we did not take the underground route."

Odd looked down and saw the manhole cover to the sewer entrance had been removed. Looking down, he saw the water level was a good five feet above normal, having completely washed out the walkway to the sewer's sides. Odd could barely make out a few objects moving beneath the water.

"My skateboard!" he yelled, undoing his rope and leaping onto the sewer's ladder.

"ODD!" Yumi yelled. "NO!" But it was too late, Odd dove into the water.

Odd kicked and pushed his way to the bottom, feeling his way along for his skateboard. A strong current threatened to pull him further down the tunnel, but he pushed harder, hands gripping the edge of his deck. He pulled himself to the surface.

"It's okay!" He yelled up to the group above. "I got it!" He was pretty sure he heard the words "fucking idiot" and "kill you myself" float down to him, but he ignored them, reaching the ladder back to the surface as he began to climb. The rain however, seemed to increase in intensity. The crew above watched as Odd's feet slipped out from under him. He lost his grip and plummeted down to the water below.

_Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good, now,  
Cryin' won't help you, and prayin' won't do you no good.  
When the levee breaks, mamma you got to move…_

"Odd? Quit messing around!" Ulrich yelled down. "ODD? _ODDDDDDDDD!_" Ulrich began untying his rope. "Dammit!" he yelled.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Yumi put a hand on his shoulder. Ulrich looked up.

"I'm going in there after him." He replied as he dropped his rope.

"Wait, Ulrich, no!" Jeremy said, putting his hand on Ulrich's chest. "Look, Odd is a strong swimmer, he'll make it alright. Now we need to focus on getting to the factory. That's our best chance of saving him."

Ulrich picked his rope back up.

"Alright." He told Jeremy. "Let's get moving."

_All last night, I sat on the levee and moaned.  
All last night, I sat on the levee and moaned.  
I think about my baby, and my happy home._

In the sewers, Odd's head broke the surface as he gasped for air, his skateboard long abandoned. He noticed that the current was carrying him at a pretty fast clip towards the factory.

_Excellent._ He thought. _Well, it sure beats walking._ He began to swim as he sang the last few lines 

of the song.

"_I'm goin', I'm goin' to Chicago. Sorry but I can't take you now. Oh, I'm going down, I'm goin' down now. I'm going down, I'm goin' down now. I'm goin' down, down, doooown…_" He swam his way down the tunnel towards the factory.

_Supercomputer Control Room  
10 Minutes later…_

Tom was wrapping up setting his bugs up to provide coverage of the entire room. He placed one under the keyboard of the terminal and stopped. He heard the loud whine of machinery coming from the elevator.

_Someone's coming._ Tom thought. He looked around at where he could hide. He saw a ladder integrated into the side of the room, leading up to the rafters and to a hatch in the ceiling. _Now where was _that_ when I needed a way down here!_ He gave the bugs one last check and made for the ladder.

_Factory Connecting Bridge  
Meanwhile…_

Ulrich screeched to a halt the moment he could feel pavement beneath his feet.

"Guys!" Jeremy yelled from the back. "We've made it!"

"Yeah," Ulrich replied. "And I don't see Odd."

"Well, come on!" Yumi told him. "Let's get inside. If I were him, I wouldn't want to be waiting for anyone out in this weather." They had just set off across the bridge when there was a tug at the line. Jeremy had stumbled.

"Hey, you okay?" Ulrich called back.

"Yeah, fine!" Jeremy yelled. "But the door to the sewers is open!"

_Maybe Odd did make it, then._ Ulrich thought as they made it inside. They undid their ropes and swung down to the floor of the factory's cathedral hall. There, they saw a set of wet footprints leading to an operating elevator and a very wet, but very alive, Odd Della Robia.

"Sorry I didn't wait for you guys." Odd told them. "I would've called, but mobiles and water don't mix too well." He grinned.

A wave of relief washed over the group.

"Odd, I don't know whether to hit you or kiss you." Yumi said. "But that is definitely the dumbest thing you've ever done."

"Got me here faster, didn't it?" Odd smirked.

"True." Jeremy said. He pointed to the elevator. "Why did you send the elevator down with no one in it?"

"I didn't" Odd replied. "It was down when I got here."

"Hmm…" Ulrich thought. "Weird." The elevator reached the top, and the crew filed in and began their descent. Odd reached into his pocket.

"Here." He said, passing the companion brick to Jeremy.

"What's this for?" Jeremy asked.

"Just make sure it gets plenty of sunshine and happiness when I'm on Lyoko, okay?"

"Odd, I think all this water has damaged your brain." Jeremy replied as the elevator stopped at the supercomputer control room.

Tom had just finished scaling the ladder up to the rafters when the heavy blast door slid open. He tucked himself behind one of the florescent lamps, using its glaring light and resulting shadow to hide in. A voice echoed through the large chamber.

"Okay," said the unmistakable voice of Jeremy Belpois. "You guys head to the scanner room, and I'll begin the virtualization process as soon as I get through to Aelita. Hopefully she's found XANA's activated tower by now." With that, the blast door sealed shut as Jeremy walked to the elaborate console and placed what looked like a large, damp brick next to the keyboard.

_Perfect._ Tom thought. _Confirmation on one of the subjects._ Tom's glee was cut short however, when he saw his sound recorder, still running, next to the brick. Jeremy, however, seemed too busy typing to notice its existence. _Count myself lucky,_ Tom considered, _at least for now._

"Aelita?" Jeremy asked into his headset mic. "Aelita, do you copy?"

"Yes, I'm here Jeremy." Her voice sounding digitized through the headphones. "But I've got some unwanted attention!" On Lyoko, Aelita was running, two blocks still in hot pursuit, firing laser blasts at her on the go.

"XANA's monsters?" Jeremy asked "Well, did you find the tower?"

"I did!" she replied. "It's in the forest sector." She gave Jeremy the coordinates.

"Well, hang tight Aelita! Backup is on the way." Jeremy's fingers clicked faster on the keyboard.

_The Factory  
Scanner Room_

The doors to the scanners slid open, and Jeremy announced like the voice of God "You guys are headed to the forest region. Aelita's already got some company, so be ready to fight as soon as you hit the ground!"

"You got it, Einstien!" Odd responded. "Just gimme a second to take these bags outta my pants. They really didn't do a very good job of keeping me dry through XANA's storm."

"Well maybe if you hadn't decided to go for a swim…" Ulrich began, before the scanner doors closed.

"Transfer Yumi!" Jeremy called. "Transfer Odd, Transfer Ulrich!" Tom watched as what looked like little cartoonized pictures of the subjects arranged themselves on the screen. Jeremy hit a button. "Scanner!" he called. The pictures started to fill up. When they reached the top, Jeremy yelled "Virtualization!"

On Lyoko, the digital selves of Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich rendered and dropped to the ground.

"Look!" Yumi called, pointing up the path. Aelita was running at full tilt, only a few short meters from the pursuing blocks. The monsters let out another volley…

"Super sprint!" Ulrich yelled, running in Aelita's direction. He jumped and pulled out his sword…

…Landing behind Aelita and in the path of the incoming lasers, deflecting the bolts with his sword. Aelita dove for cover behind a tree trunk, and Ulrich leapt atop one of the blocks. Steadying himself, he plunged his sword into one of its eyes. "Impact!" he called as the block exploded. He turned to face the other monster, which was already stumbling and about to explode. A quick laser arrow from Odd had eliminated that threat.

"Oof!" he called. "Talk about a warm welcome!" Aelita emerged from behind the trunk, dusting herself off. "You okay, princess?"

"I am, thanks to you all!" she replied.

"Any luck locating the tower?" Yumi asked. Aelita nodded.

"It's just down that path, not too far."

"Ahh, perfect!" Odd stretched out. "Nothing like a little run to dry off after XANA's shower." The group started running down the path Aelita just came from. "I tell ya, XANA's gotta work on his subtlety. There are more polite ways of telling me I need a bath!"

Back in the control room, Tom was getting more confused by the minute. _What the hell is going on here?_ He wondered. He had been able to catch snippets of the conversation on Lyoko, and he 

was downright flummoxed. _Towers? Monsters? XANA? What the hell is all _that _about?_

Ulrich's voice broke his concentration. "Jeremy? We've spotted the activated tower."

Ulrich winced as he saw it. Down the path to the left, a pair of blocks patrolled the tower. The monsters didn't bother him, what did was the constantly moving set of three concentric platforms, jumping up and down in different rhythms.

"We have to time the jumps just right." Yumi said. "If not, we're screwed."

"Yeah, I don't know about you guys, but I've had enough swimming for one day." Odd concentrated on the motion of the rings "And last time I checked, the digital sea wasn't the warmest of waters. Let's make sure we get this right."

Jeremy's voice called out of the ether "Well, I hate to rush you guys, but you're going to have to figure it out soon! Three krabes are on your trail!" The crew turned to face them.

"Oh, nutsack." Yumi muttered. Ulrich was slightly more helpful.

"Everyone down the path, now!" He turned and sprinted towards the tower, stopping before he got to the moving platforms. He turned to face the others. "Okay, here's the plan: You two protect Aelita and make your way to the tower. Take the blocks out at a distance if you can. I'll stay here and hold these three off, got it?"

"But Ulrich," Aelita began. "It's suicide!"

"Hey, don't worry; the consequences of me losing my life points are a lot less severe than you losing yours." He told her. "Besides, it's not like I'm going to have to face them on my own." He winked and turned back to face the approaching krabes, who were just entering laser range. "Bring it ON!!" he bellowed, as Yumi made the first jump onto the platform.

_Lyoko__  
Forest Sector-Outside Tower  
1220 Hours_

The krabes began locking on to Ulrich's position. He stood, sword at the ready, staring them down. Their lasers charged and fired almost simultaneously. Ulrich deflected the first two bolts and almost dodged the third but instead caught a bolt in the right shoulder. Ulrich grunted and held the still sizzling section of his body as Jeremy called "Ulrich! You just lost 20 life points, you have to be careful!"

"Yeah, I know Jeremy, but there's three of them! I can't dodge all their attacks if they lock on to me!"

"C'mon, Ulrich, think! There's gotta be a way you can level the playing field! Try triplicating to break their lock. It'll confuse them long enough for you to take one down and gain the 

advantage. Now go!"

_Of course, my special power!_ He remembered. _Okay, time to even the score._

"Triplicate!" he yelled, as his body cloned itself two copies. The krabes who had been charging their lasers stopped, tracking thrown off by the appearance of three identical targets before them. "Go!" Ulrich yelled to his clones, pointing at the monsters. "Take them down!"

The three Ulrichs raced towards the still stunned krabes. The leftmost one recovered and shot one Ulrich, while the other two managed to slip through the still stunned monsters. Ulrich leapt atop the centermost krabe, while Ulrich ran underneath the rightmost as the leftmost Ulrich dematerialized. All in all, it was a very confusing scene.

Center Ulrich succeeded in plunging his sword into the krabe, leaping backwards as it exploded. Right Ulrich was still trying unsuccessfully to put his sword through the monster's underbelly. Center Ulrich took off to help his dexterous brethren as the left most krabe turned and gained a lock on him. Ulrich was just about to leap atop the rightmost monster when he evaporated in a flash of pixels. Ulrich, alone again, used the distraction his brother bought him to finally pierce the krabe's carapace, causing it to stumble and explode.

He turned to face the last krabe. Squaring off with each other, the monster began to charge its laser. Ulrich readied himself. Suddenly, the monster let off two quick blasts. Ulrich swung his sword, deflecting the first bolt back to the krabe, hitting it squarely in the eye of XANA. Its second bolt caught Ulrich as it was collapsing. Ulrich, having only a few life points left, evaporated out of existence.

Back in the real world, the scanner door slid open. Ulrich came spilling out, clutching his head. He grumbled and staggered over to the elevator.

Upstairs in the control room, Tom was beginning to put the pieces together. _It sounds like they're fighting something._ He mused. _And what did they mean by XANA's storm? Are they saying that the storm outside was caused by this supercomputer? Damn!_

On Lyoko, Aelita, Odd, and Yumi were still trying to reach the tower. Both warriors had lost several life points due to the block's sniping, and Odd was seriously getting fed up with getting shot at. A laser bolt sizzled by and hit his hand.

"Gaaah!" He yelled. "I'm getting really sick of this!"

"Yeah," came Jeremy's reply "you'd better be extremely careful. You're down to only 10 life points!"

"Okay, we only have to make it through one more ring, and we're on the platform with the tower." Yumi told him. "Let's finish this."

"I've been waiting for you to say that." Odd smiled. "Alrighty, Yumi, you take the left, I'll take 

the right. This brick's shot at me for the last time."

"On three, we both attack." Yumi told him. "One!"

A laser bolt sizzled past Yumi. "Two!"

The block prepared to fire again. "Three!" The two warriors took aim.

"Laser arrow!" Odd yelled, but not before the block got a shot off. Both lasers found their mark, and Odd was devirtualized.

Tom was still clinging to the rafters when Ulrich came up the elevator.

"How's it going?" he asked. Jeremy sighed.

"Well, we just lost Odd, and Yumi's down to 20 LP, and she still hasn't taken out the final monster."

"Any news on things outside?"

"Things are still bad, but if Aelita deactivates the tower soon, I think we might've stopped XANA before he's done too much damage." Jeremy replied. He clicked a few keys. "Well, we just lost Yumi, but she did manage to take out the block just in time. Aelita, you're all clear to enter the tower."

Tom shifted his weight as he clung to the top of the support beam. His pistol was jammed uncomfortably into his side. He removed it and held it in one of his hands, the other one reaching around to grab the underside of the light. It was then that Ulrich looked up. Tom froze.

Ulrich could have sworn he saw something move up on the ceiling, by one of the fluorescent lights providing illumination to the control room. He put his hand up to block the glare of the light.

"Something the matter, Ulrich?" Jeremy asked, looking up at him.

"Nah," Ulrich said. "I thought I saw something. I must've pushed myself a little too hard on Lyoko today, I guess."

"Well, if you're sure you're alright, then fine. Aelita's just about to deactivate the tower, and Odd and Yumi are on their way up the elevator now."

Ulrich nodded. He looked down at the computer terminal, and noticed that there was a small digital sound recorder sitting right next to Odd's companion brick. He picked it up.

"This yours?" he asked Jeremy.

"No, I don't think so. Maybe one of the others'?" Jeremy asked. Tom's nose started twitching. _Oh, shit!_ He thought. _Oh please, God, not now!_ Odd and Yumi were just exiting the elevator. "Ok, Aelita's deactivated the tower. I'm preparing for the return trip—"

"Wait." Ulrich told him. He hefted Odd's companion brick and turned around, looking back up at the light he was gazing at earlier.

"Hey man," Odd began. "What are you doing with my—"

Tom couldn't hold it any more. He let out a stifled sneeze.

That was all Ulrich needed. He chucked the brick as hard as he could at the source of the noise.

"Brick!" Odd finished as it flew through the air. Tom watched it sail towards him. His first instinct was to shield his head and face from the impact. As he brought his hands up to his face, the brick hit his right hand, which was holding his pistol. That hand reflexively released its grip and Tom lunged after it, not realizing at the time that this left him considerably unbalanced and exposed. His still-wet feet slipped from their hold on the beam, and Tom plummeted to the ground below.

* * *

**Oh damn! What'd I do? I didn't just cliffhang you all, did I? Shucks, looks like I did. I can tell you what happens next, of course, but only if I get _two_ reviews. That's not so hard, is it? Just two?**

**Good news is that I have this episode entirely wrapped up, and I've already started on the next one, so as soon as those REVIEWS come in the saga continues!**

**Cheers,  
Ocelot014  
**


	10. Operation: Lone Eagle: Chapter 5

**(Chapter Five-Full Disclosure)**

_Supercomputer Control Room  
__The Factory  
1235 hours_

As Tom fell from the rafters, his pistol clattered by Ulrich's feet. Tom hit the ground hard, his left shoulder absorbing most of the impact. His neck snapped downward, slapping his head against the cold metal floor, stunning Tom for several seconds.

Ulrich wasted no time. He reached down and grabbed the pistol, pointing it at the fallen spy in front of him as Tom slowly rose to his feet. Tom's head still swam as he saw stars. He pulled himself up, using the wall for support when suddenly a harsh voice boomed in a foreign tongue.

"_Sie dachten, daß Sie uns täuschen ließen? Hände oben! Jetzt!_" Ulrich shouted in his native German. They had indeed been deceived. He waited to see if Tom would put his hands up. He did, very slowly.

"_Nicht schießen!_" came the reply. "_Ich bin nicht ein Feind!_" Tom reached tenderly for the side of his head.

"Bullshit you aren't an enemy! And keep your fucking hands up!" Ulrich shouted, in English this time. Somehow the words in his native tongue seemed to hurt his head more than the shouted German. Tom cracked his eyes open wide enough to see the form of Ulrich pointing his Sig Sauer at him. Jeremy, Odd and Yumi stood arrayed behind and to the side of him, letting Ulrich handle Tom.

A surge of pain enveloped his head and Tom collapsed to his knees, pitching forward and retching violently, emptying the contents of his stomach on the floor in front of him.

"Aww, what the HELL!" Jeremy grimaced. "He puked all over the fucking floor!"

"It's ok." Ulrich replied. "The return trip'll clean it up, but I want some answers first." Ulrich walked over to Tom and pointed the pistol at Tom's head. "Start talking."

"Lovely weather, isn't it?" Tom said sarcastically, coughing. Ulrich raised the pistol to strike Tom with the butt of it, but a feminine voice stopped him

"Ulrich, no!" Yumi called. Both males turned to look at her. "He fell two stories! He probably has a concussion, you could kill him!"

"And he was here to kill us! We need to take care of this!"

"Wait, wait, STOP!" Tom yelled, extending his hand, palm out. "You've got it wrong, I'm not here to kill you at all!"

"Then start talking!" Odd yelled. "Tell us who you are and what the hell you're doing here!"

Tom grimaced. This was a huge step. He was pretty sure from what he'd seen around the factory that these kids were the cause of the anomalies, but they were fighting a greater evil. If he told them, he might be able to win their trust. If he held out, Ulrich would probably shoot him. _Fuck it_ Tom decided. _I'm dead either way._

"Alright." Tom decided. "You guys already know who I am, but that's not the whole story. My name is Captain Thomas James Walker, serial number 043-1120-0203-TW. I'm a member of the United Nations Security Council's Special Forces division. I was sent here to investigate and monitor a series of temporal anomalies, secure the source, and infiltrate the group behind it."

Suddenly, Tom saw their expression change slightly. He'd seen it before, epiphany; when all the pieces to a puzzle suddenly fell in place.

_So that explains the login page, the UNESCO funding, everything. _Yumi thought. _Wow._

Ulrich, however, wanted to know more. "Define 'infiltrate'." Ulrich ordered. "Is that just a euphemism for execute?"

"I told you, I'm not here to kill you! If I wanted to do that, you would've been dead two days ago, and you would've never known I was here. No one would. My mission was to further ascertain your intentions, and aid you if friendly." Tom explained.

"And if not?" Jeremy demanded.

_Shit._ "Then you were to be detained and questioned," Tom replied. "And the technology here would be brought under UN control." Tom didn't really feel comfortable going into much further detail on UN protocol. He knew the fate that could've awaited them, and it was an act of good faith that he had told them this much. That, and the fact that Ulrich still pointed a loaded Sig Sauer in his general direction.

"However," Tom continued, "that's not what I believe. I've heard you guys talking for the past half hour, and I believe your intentions are good. Look, I don't know what Lyoko is, who XANA is, or what this place does, but if it all combines to have the power to alter the weather and jeopardize the safety and security of mankind, I am obligated to help." Tom rose shakily once more to his feet. The nausea wasn't nearly as bad this time. He kept his left hand against the wall and slowly extended his right. "So I ask, as a gesture of good faith, put the gun down and at least let me talk to you straight. Let me help you."

The pistol in Ulrich's hand faltered for a bit, then pointed back at Tom. "No! How can we possibly trust you, after how you deceived us? No, we're going to return to the past, wipe this little incident from your mind, go back and get you expelled for having a gun on campus. We know where you keep it." Ulrich lied.

_He's lying._ Tom thought, but he decided to play along. "No, wait! Look, it doesn't matter if you get me kicked out. I will be replaced, or other methods will be used to figure out what exactly is 

happening here, but none of them will be as good for both of us."

"What exactly do you mean?" Odd asked.

"I mean as part of my mandate I am authorized to approach you to become temporary agents of the UNSCSF. By cooperating in agency with me you can have access, within limits, to the resources of the United Nations." Tom mentally crossed his fingers. That line was originally used to sway Somali warlords into helping the UN in exchange for aid. While it was true that Tom could offer agency as part of his mission parameters, it was never explicitly encouraged or even directed. It was just an option Tom was allowed to take in an emergency. Tom figured this qualified.

"Why should we believe you?" Yumi asked.

"I can prove this all to you right now, but talk it over first and consider your options. Think this through logically! If you reject my offer, fine, no sweat off my back, just reverse time and kick me out of Kadic, but if you let me help you, you have no idea what I can bring to the table. Besides, one way or another I'll end up helping you, and it'll be a lot better if I do it directly, and at least I won't suspect you outright."

Ulrich turned his head to the group. "We need to talk this over alone, but I don't want to turn my back on him."

"Oh, c'mon Ulrich!" Yumi said. "Look at him, he can barely stand! He's not going anywhere!"

"Look," Jeremy said "Let's put him in the elevator. I can lock it between floors from here."

"Good call. You," Ulrich gestured toward the elevator with the pistol "in there. And sit down before you pass out."

Tom smiled weakly and made his way very slowly to the elevator. He sat down on the floor and watched as Jeremy made his way to the computer. The elevator's massive blast doors sealed shut and the elevator rose, then abruptly stopped as its internal lights shut off and Tom was plunged into pitch darkness.

_Supercomputer Control Room  
The Factory  
1242 hours._

"Okay," Ulrich said, turning from the elevator doors and placing Tom's pistol next to the computer terminal. "So what do we do now?"

Jeremy, still sitting in his chair, raised his hand to stroke his chin. "Well, he makes a very compelling case. I certainly don't think we should kill him, especially if what he said about his mission is true. If we kill him, the UN will consider us hostile immediately. If they already know who we are, it won't take them long to get to us."

"Well that's comforting." Odd replied. "But, honestly, do we really need his help? I mean, we've been doing alright without any professional soldiers hanging around. Besides, have you seen the way the ladies look at him? The last thing I need is more competition."

"Jesus Odd, be serious!" Yumi glared at him "You all don't think he can help us, or that he can be trusted? C'mon! I mean, he just put his neck on the line for us! Do you think he was seriously supposed to reveal the fact that he's essentially a secret agent? You don't lay out something like that unless you really want somebody to trust you. I think he sincerely wants to help."

"Yumi, come on!" Ulrich turned to face her. "Who knows if that story he told us was true? He could still be here to kill us."

"Oh, I highly doubt that." Jeremy said from his chair. Ulrich turned to face him.

"Yeah," said Aelita, who Jeremy had just pulled up onto the screen. "You're forgetting one major thing. He saved your life, and fought XANA's monster. He's here to help."

This stopped Ulrich cold. With all the mystery surrounding Tom's appearance, he had failed to remember that Tom was the one who distracted the bear and allowed him to escape last night. The memory flashed back to him:

_The wall had disintegrated with a ferocious crash. There was an almost imperceptible moment of silence as the stunned minds of Kadic realized what was happening, then, chaos. Kids panicked, Jim screamed and ran with the rest of the children, and the gym emptied as people fled the colossal monster facing them. But not Ulrich. He still stood in the same shocked position on the DJ booth, microphone dangling uselessly from his hand. The bear crashed through the remainder of the wall and turned to look straight at him. He caught some vague motion out of his right eye, but it wasn't until he heard the voice that his head turned. _

"_Ulrich!" The voice yelled. "Down! Now!" Ulrich had dove and the DJ booth was impaled by a giant furry fist. As he rose again to his feet, another vision paralyzed him. There was Tom, the interesting kid he had just met that day, who seemed to fit in so well, who everyone including himself had begun to like, holding a pistol._

Why does he have a gun_? He had thought, while the blinding flash and deafening noise of the firing pistol distracted him, snapped him out of it. He glanced up at the bear, and could almost see it switch priorities to the greater threat. Ulrich used this distraction to make his way over to the locker rooms on the opposite side of the gym, crossing behind Tom, who just fired a three shot burst at the bear, cracking its left eye. The bear swung its paw down to crush Tom, but he was faster, rolling out of the way. Tom began to back up, firing again at the bear and cracking its other eye. The bear followed Tom, covering most of the gym floor in a single step. Ulrich saw the door on the far side of the gym open, just as the bear took another massive swing at Tom, who rolled again, got up and fired wide of the bear on both sides. The bear had just gotten ready to take another punch at Tom when an array of lights fell from the ceiling on top of it. Funny, Ulrich had thought, a light from one of those arrays had almost fallen on them earlier that day. _

_It was Tom who had saved them from that too. _

_Ulrich didn't have time to ruminate fully, as the bear's flailing arm smacked him, sending him sailing through the air and into a wall._

"_Ulrich!" He heard another voice call through the haze of pain and fear. Yumi! She ran towards him, distracting Tom. The bear raised his fist again, and brought it down right on top of him. Yumi, who had just reached Ulrich turned around and gasped. Tom had caught the blow, and had slowly sank to the floor, lying on his back with his arms and legs pushing against the bear with all his might. His pistol had clattered uselessly ten feet away. Tom let go and rolled out of the way just as the arm crashed down. He rose slowly to his feet, looking to be in incredible pain. The arm rose up again. Tom had nowhere to run. The arm came down…_

…_and froze less than a foot from Tom's now crouching form. Yumi helped Ulrich up, and Tom unclenched his eyes. He slowly stood up again, and uttered four words._

"_I don't get it."_

_Ulrich had ignored him at the time, but he didn't realize what the words meant. Tom had no idea that this was a XANA attack, that he and Yumi and the others were all fighting him. And yet, Tom had risked exposing himself to the whole school perhaps just to save their lives. Not because it was the mission, but because it was what he had to do._

_Maybe that did make him worthy of trust._

Ulrich looked into Aelita's eyes. "You may be right. Maybe I have been too hard on him." Yumi gave him an _Oh, really?_ Kind of look. Ulrich continued "Well, think about it. Out of context his behavior and actions seem really strange, but knowing all the facts things kind of make sense."

"Just think about the way you all behave in your world." Aelita began. "I'm sure you all do things that seem abnormal to others, but to you make perfect sense. Tom, being an outsider to your life, will see things about your life differently than you will, and being an outsider to Tom's life means you may take his normal actions to be suspicious. Once you begin to understand a little more about them, things start to make more sense. Simple analytical logic."

"Not bad for a computer program." Odd said.

"AI." Aelita corrected.

Yumi smiled. "Okay then, can we all agree to give Tom a chance?" She looked around the room. "Jeremy?" He nodded. "Aelita?" She gave a thumbs up. "Odd?"

Odd shrugged and nodded. "I guess the extra help can't hurt. If he's a secret agent, he could be really effective against XANA attacks. Besides, he's said he's already got a girlfriend. I guess he can't really be that much a threat to my social life." He grinned "I'm all for it."

"Ulrich?"

Ulrich was still thinking. He massaged his chin and looked up at Yumi. "He saved my life. I suppose the least I owe him is a chance. Jer, bring him down." Jeremy hit a few keys at the terminal, and Ulrich took Tom's weapon from the desk next to him.

_Factory Elevator  
1247 Hours_

Tom was sitting in the pitch dark, tapping his foot. Each tap was exactly one second apart.

_237…238…239…_

It was probably unintentional, but Jeremy's plan to lock him in the elevator was actually a rather effective form of SDT, or Sensory Deprivation Torture. If they could've blocked his hearing, it would've been perfect. His foot tapped some more.

_299…300…301…_

Sense of time was the first thing to go when the human body's senses are disoriented. He didn't know how long they planned to keep him in locked in the elevator, but he at least knew how long he had been there. Five minutes.

_323…324…325…_

He wasn't expecting this to be a quick decision, but he was fairly confident that it would turn out his way. Jeremy was smart, logical, and pragmatic. He'd reason things out and explain it to the others.

_347…348…349…_

_Even Yumi could get her head around it_, he thought. Odd would just go along with the consensus. It was Ulrich he was worried about. _Ulrich_. Something had changed between him and Ulrich, perceptibly so. _What had happened?_

_403…404…405…_

It was in the gym, after he'd asked Tamilla out. It was weird, he seemed at the same time appreciative but cautious. Tom couldn't figure it out, and even though he'd seemed openly hostile a few minutes ago, there was a definite sense of hesitation.

Suddenly, the elevator started to move downward again. Tom stood up. The nausea had completely diminished, but the pain in his head still lingered as a kind of dull throb. Either way, he could stand, which was a step in the right direction. He crossed his arms and leaned against the back of the elevator. It reached the bottom, and the doors slid open.

When Tom's eyes adjusted to the light, he saw Ulrich pointing his pistol at him again. A brief flash of fear shook Tom. _They don't believe me._ He briefly thought. _I'm fucked._

"Last chance, Walker. Are you telling the truth?" he said menacingly.

"You know I am."

"Don't fuck around Tom, just yes or no! Are you here to help us?"

Tom sighed. "Yes!" Ulrich walked towards him and entered the elevator. He raised his arm up, and Tom covered his head to protect himself from the blow that never came. Tom unclenched his eyes and saw Ulrich holding the pistol butt out, offering it to Tom.

"You know, you've gotta trust people a little more, man." Ulrich said as Tom took the pistol, ejecting the magazine and the chambered round.

"Sneaky fuck." Tom replied, grinning.

"Watch it." He extended his hand. "Welcome to the team."

* * *

**As promised, I deliver. Thanks to all who reviewed! Keep it up, as I'm expecting nothing less for the next installment.  
**


	11. Operation: Lone Eagle: Chapter 6

**(Chapter Six-Through the Looking Glass)**

_Supercomputer Control Room  
1309 Hours_

"…So all this AI, XANA, has to do is activate a tower on Lyoko and he can affect things on Earth?" Tom asked. Jeremy and the crew had spent the past 20 minutes getting Tom up to speed on their struggle. Tom was listening, but it all seemed really hard to believe. If Tom hadn't been monitoring them covertly during their mission, he would've thought they were just bullshitting him. _I guess I just have to believe it. Besides, who could make this stuff up?_

"Essentially yes." Jeremy replied. "The towers provide a link between the real and virtual worlds. By influencing matter at the quantum level, the supercomputer reorganizes the energy levels to—"

"Hold on Jeremy." Odd said. "I've been going to Lyoko for a while now, and even I don't understand it. Cool the techno-babble, man."

"Yeah, Jeremy." Tom said, putting his hand to his head. "Take pity on me. I have a concussion. All I have to know is yes, XANA, through the supercomputer's virtual towers, can interact with physical matter?" Jeremy nodded. "Ok, well then how do you deactivate the towers? Better yet, why don't you just deactivate the supercomputer?"

Yumi laughed. "As it happens, Tom, those two questions have the same answer. Jeremy, let's introduce him."

Odd and Ulrich helped Tom up as Jeremy turned to the supercomputer terminal. By the time Tom had gotten to his feet, Jeremy spun back around and announced "Tom, meet Aelita, our resident virtual girl and inhabitant of the digital world of Lyoko."

"Hi Tom, it's great to meet you." Aelita said, with a slightly digitized sound to her voice. "Sorry I can't shake your hand."

Tom's eyes went a little wide. "Uh, hi Aelita." He said, recovering his composure. "Nice to meet you too. And don't worry about it, seeing as you're in there and I'm, uh, out here, I think we can let it slide." He chuckled.

Aelita chuckled as well. "OK, we'll save it for when you come to Lyoko, then. The others have told me a lot about you, and it's great to have you as a part of our team. I'm sure you'll be a great help in our fight against XANA."

"Yup," Jeremy began. "Aelita lives on Lyoko. She's the only one who can deactivate the towers, and until we find a way to bring her to the real world, we can't deactivate the supercomputer and destroy XANA. I've been working on a devirtualization program for weeks now, but it's…taking a while." Jeremy looked dejected. Tom put an arm on his shoulder.

"Don't worry man, I'm sure there's a way." He winked.

"Yeah, there probably is, but I just don't-"

"No, Jeremy." Tom looked him in the eye. "I'm _sure_ there's a way." Jeremy thought he was seeing things, but he could've sworn he saw a mischievous twinkle in Tom's eye. _Maybe it's just his concussion._ He thought. "So when do I go to Lyoko?" Tom continued.

"Probably not until later. Fighting on Lyoko is pretty physically draining, and I wouldn't recommend it in your condition." Ulrich told him.

"Yeah, besides, one of us has to go with you, just to make sure you don't get your ass zapped by a wayward krabbe." Odd replied snickering. "And I don't know about any of you, but I'm _starving_."

"Wait." Tom said. "You're telling me I have to wait until my concussion goes away? That could take almost a month!"

Jeremy chuckled. "Nope, you probably won't have to wait long at all. In fact, we can take part of the steps now. You guys want to show him the scanners?"

_Scanner room  
1314 hours_

"Whoa."

That was the only word that Tom had to describe the scene before him. Three large cylindrical towers rose at least 20 feet to the ceiling above. Wiring and cabling ran from the cylinders to the ceiling and between each other at ground level. Everything glowed with a sort of iridescent yellow sterility.

"This is the scanner room." Yumi told him. "These babies transport us to Lyoko."

"Exactly, Yumi." Jeremy's voice boomed through a loudspeaker in the ceiling. "These scanners analyze your DNA patterns and your electrical nerve impulses to render a complete virtual copy of you on Lyoko. It uses high energy colliders to-"

"Einstein…" Odd called out.

"Er, sorry. Anyway, while we can't send you to Lyoko now, we can at least scan your brainwave patterns into the supercomputer so you won't be affected by the return trip. All you need to do is to step into the scanner that I'm opening for you now…" Tom heard the tapping of keys and the doors on the center scanner slid open. "And I'll take care of the rest. Got it?"

"So that thing's going to scan my brain?" Tom asked, hesitantly.

"Yup, it's really quite simple."

"How many times have you done this?"

"Uh, three?"

"And they're all fine?"

"Well," Ulrich began, "aside from Odd. Jeremy kind of messed him up, but he's better now. Well, kinda."

"Hey!" Odd shouted. Everyone chuckled.

"So you're not going to fry my brain?" Tom continued.

"No. Stop worrying and step inside. You'll be fine, I promise." Jeremy responded.

"Should I remove any and all metal objects on my person before entering?"

"One: No. Two: Fuck you. And three: Get in there!"

Tom laughed. "Okay…" he sighed as he stepped into the scanner. "I'm in. Now what?"

"Just relax." Jeremy replied. "And thank you for helping us help you help us all."

"Huh?" Tom said, and the doors slid shut. Tom heard a click and a low humming noise, which began to increase to a loud, rushing combination between a "whirr" and a "thrum". The ambient light in the scanner increased, and Tom could feel a sense of wind in the chamber, causing his hair to fly about. The noise in the chamber had become a dull drone when suddenly Tom heard another click. The noise began to reduce along with the wind, and he could hear several mechanisms wind down. Before he knew it, the doors slid open. Tom stepped tentatively from the chamber.

"That's it?" he called out.

"That's it." Jeremy's voice responded. "It's official. Your DNA and brainwave patterns are officially integrated into the network. Now, is everyone ready for the return trip?"

"We're ready, Jeremy." Ulrich responded.

"Wait, what return trip?" Tom asked. "What's happening now?"

"Oh, you're gonna love this." Jeremy's voice said over the clicking of keys. "Return to the past, now!"

Suddenly, Tom heard a noise underneath him, and a white bubble of light seemed to emanate 

from the floor. Tom had a brief flash of epiphany. "The light!" he called out as the bubble overtook him. Then he felt nothing but a strange sense of déjà vu.

**(Epilogue-Previous Explanations)**

_Main Gymnasium  
__Kadic Academy  
Earlier that day…_

Ulrich had Tom in a sleeper hold. Tom had his chin tucked to his chest to avoid being choked, then he violently jerked his head backwards. Ulrich was ready for it. He let go of Tom and jumped backwards. Tom, balance lost from the violence of his move, toppled over onto his back. Ulrich jumped on top and pinned him. Tom tapped out.

"Not bad." He said. "For a rookie."

"Hey," Ulrich responded. "I beat you, didn't I?"

"I let you win. How's your nose?"

Ulrich grinned and the two rolled away. "Odd, how's my time?" He asked from his back.

"Dunno, man. Must've forgotten to start the watch." He replied, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"What!"

"Oh, I guess it doesn't count, then." Tom responded, looking up at Odd.

"Yeah, where's your proof?" Yumi smiled.

"Oh, _come on!_" Ulrich yelled. The group degenerated into laughter. When it stopped, Ulrich and Tom were still on their backs. It was Odd who spoke first.

"So are you really a secret agent, Tom?"

Tom sniffed. "Yeah, I've been one since I was eight."

"Have you ever killed anybody?" Yumi asked. Tom sat up. His mind flashed back through the events of the past two years. He remembered the feel of the AK in his hands, the pull of the trigger, and the faces. He remembered the faces…

"I've killed four people." He responded coldly. The group was silent for a moment.

"Did they deserve it?" The question came from Ulrich this time. Tom turned to face him.

"That's too philosophical." He responded. "Does anyone deserve to die, no matter their sins? Are we fit to decide people's fates? No, I can't answer those questions. All I can say is that it was a choice between my life, and theirs. I chose theirs. I'm not proud of what I've done. I don't keep track because I'm some macho, soulless killing machine. I have a conscience, and when the day is over I have to live with the choices I've made."

"No one's accusing you of anything, Tom." Yumi said.

"Yeah, we have no idea what your life's been like." Ulrich added. "You don't have to justify yourself to us."

"I know, guys." Tom replied. "I just feel that I have to justify it for myself. This is something that I've had to live with for almost a year now. I just have to deal with it." He looked up and smiled. "Thanks a lot, guys. I haven't been able to talk to many people about this, and it feels good to get it off my chest."

"Hey," Odd replied. "You're our friend now, and whether you like it or not, we're here for you."

"Yeah, what are friends for?" Yumi winked. Ulrich gave him a thumbs up.

Tom smiled and his phone beeped three times, the SMS message alert.

"That'll be command." He told them. "They'll want to know what's up with the temporal anomalies."

"Should we go?" asked Yumi.

"Nah, you guys are agents now, you might as well stay." He walked over to the phone and proceeded to dial into command.

After three rings, the voice of the Major answered.

"Hello?" came the gruff voice.

"Falcon Six reporting in." Tom replied.

"Ah, Tom, how are you?

"Fine, Dad." Tom said sarcastically.

"Very funny. Now listen up, we've got some serious business to deal with. We've picked up two more temporal anomalies since you've been there—"

"One with the divergence point from nominal reality somewhere between 1530 and 1915 hours, around 7:15 PM local time and reverting back to about 3:30 PM yesterday, and one from 1:09 PM hours reverting back to approximately 10:21 this morning?"

"Uh, yes." The Major replied, a bit confused. "How-how did you know?"

"Sir, I have ascertained the source and cause behind the temporal anomalies. I can't give you all the details now, but the subjects were definitely behind it. Only problem is, we've hit a snag."

"What's that?"

"They found out."

"What! So what did you do?"

"I offered them agency. It's within the mission parameters." Tom crossed his fingers, remembering that he wasn't exactly authorized to do that.

"You did? Why would you do that?" the Major sounded incredulous.

"Because they are currently combating a force that represents a potential breach of the peace as defined by Article VII of the UN charter. A malevolent AI contained inside a supercomputer who can affect the real world." Tom responded. He didn't want to tell the Major so much over the phone in front of everybody.

"Is that right? Where are the subjects now?"

"Standing right next to me."

"Oh." The Major sighed. "Well, put me on speakerphone. They all might as well hear what I have to say."

Tom pressed a few buttons. "You're on sir."

The Major cleared his throat. "I understand that Captain Walker has explained to all of you his mission?"

"He explained that he was here to investigate the source of temporal anomalies, yes." Ulrich replied.

"That is true, and it is within his mission to aid you if your intentions are friendly. You're sure they are, Tom?"

"One hundred percent, sir." Tom told him.

"Alright, then by the authority granted to me by the United Nations Security Council, I hereby grant agency status to Jeremy Belpois, Odd Della Robia, Yumi Ishiyama, and Ulrich Stern. Do you all accept this responsibility?"

"I accept." Jeremy said, who had come in during the phone conversation

"Yup, I'm in." Odd replied.

"I do." Said Yumi.

"Me too." Ulrich chimed in.

"Very well." The Major responded. "And Tom, since you are no longer operating solo on this mission, your mission protocols have changed. Operation: Lone Eagle is over. From now on, your mission is code named Operation: Eagle's Dawn. Do you copy?"

"Yes sir!" Tom replied. "What are the objectives?"

"Your mission is to find a way to stop this AI and to deal with any actions it might take against humanity. I assume there is a reason why you cannot simply deactivate this supercomputer?"

"Yes, a civilian named Aelita is trapped in there with XANA, the enemy." Jeremy told him.

"I see. Well your mission by default also includes the preservation of all civilian life, so consider it an objective to extract this Aelita as well. Are we clear?" The group all announced in affirmative, looking excited. "Excellent, and good luck. Command out."

"Roger that sir." Tom said, closing the phone. "Commencing Operation: Eagle's Dawn."

* * *

**And there you have it, the end of Episode 2 and the beginning of a new chapter. Hope you are all enjoying it so far, and thanks to all who have reviewed. Keep 'em coming!**

**Also, for your information (and for the lawyers as well), the song in Chapter 1 was _Kissing the Lipless_ by The Shins, and the one in Chapter 4 was the Led Zeppelin version of _When the Levee Breaks_.**

**I hope to have Episode 3 rolling out pretty soon, so stick around! Thanks again for reading!**


	12. Deep Cover: Chapter 1

**Hello again, readers! _Day of the Eagle_ is back with another episode rewrite, this time of _Seeing is Believing. _Sorry for not getting around to the update sooner, but real life and a bit of writers block (in addition to a whole new story I'm writing) have gotten in the way of this story, but now I have a bit of time and a direction to take this story. As usual, more reviews mean quicker updates (helps with the motivation).**

**And, of course, as usual...**

**Legal Disclaimer: I do not own Code: Lyoko, or any other brand names/products/songs that I mention. Code: Lyoko is owned by Moonscoop, but Thomas Walker, Brian Towers, and The Major are owned by me.**

* * *

**(Prologue-Inner Character)**

_London  
__Circle Line Train to South Kensington Tube Station  
Two Years Ago_

Captain Brian Towers and Lieutenant Tom Walker sat silently, facing each other as the subway train rocketed its way down London's Circle line. Despite it being two in the afternoon, the train was almost deserted. It was Tom who broke the silence.

"So who is this guy, exactly?" Tom asked.

"Who, Ambassador Townsend?" Brian responded. Tom nodded. "He was Britain's chief intelligence operative in the Middle East for the SIS in the late 70's. Since, he's transferred over to diplomacy, using his contacts in the region to quell civil unrest, suppress revolts, and put down attempted revolutions in key countries. We're hoping he can help us out with the deteriorating situation in Rael."

The train stopped, and a polite voice announced "This is South Kensington Station. Change here for the District and Piccadilly lines." Tom and Brian got off the train.

"And why are we meeting him here, now?" Tom asked. "Why don't we just meet him in the safe house?"

"Because this is his safe house." Brian replied as they exited the Tube station to another dreary London afternoon. "The ambassador is very particular, and I'd say after decades of dangerous service to his country, he deserves the right to be."

"Sure." Tom told him. "I can understand that, but I've heard he's gone a bit paranoid. Not flying transcontinental jets, drinking only bottled substances, it's all just a bit weird."

"He is a bit of a nutter, true enough." Brian responded as they passed the Kazak Embassy "But he is a brilliant man. Just remember to be completely honest in front of him."

"What are you talking about?"

Brian stopped. He turned to look Tom straight in the eye. "He's been in this game a long time. He knows when people are being disingenuous. If you are anything less than the real article, he won't trust you. Believe me, his trust is something we absolutely _must_ have if this mission is to succeed." Towers looked up. "We're here. Just remember one thing: when you're on a mission, even an undercover one, you have to be yourself, let your own personal attributes shine through. People are smarter than you think, Tom. They'll know when you're hiding something." Towers buzzed the ambassador's flat. "You ready?"

**(Chapter One-Integration)**

_Kadic International Academy__  
Men's Dormitories-Room 24: Jeremy Belpois/Thomas Walker__  
0705 hours  
Two years later…_

_ENT! ENT! ENT! ENT! ENT! ENT! ENT! ENT! ENT!_

Tom groaned, rolled over, and whacked his alarm clock. It was Monday, and a groggy Kadic academy rolled out of bed, slapped themselves awake, and began preparing for a long day of school ahead. One could almost hear the collective moan as students realized they had five days of misery to get through until the sweet, blissful weekend that always passed too quickly. Tom rose out of bed, slipped his sandals on, and flopped his way over to the showers, carrying a basket full of toiletries. 15 minutes, a shower, brush of the teeth and wash of the face later, Tom was ready to take on the challenge of sitting through a day of school.

Jeremy was already set to go, sitting on his bed and packing up the books he'd need for the day. He looked up as Tom came back in their room.

"Whatcha got for today?" He asked, sliding a science textbook into his bag.

"Uh, some Italian course with the 10th grade this morning, then science with you guys before recess and lunch, then I'm free in the afternoon." Tom said, looking at his schedule.

"What! Really?" Jeremy asked, standing up.

"Yeah, it says right there, 'Directed Study.'" Tom pointed. "That means a free period, right?" Jeremy started laughing. "What's so funny?"

"Um, yeah." Jeremy said, wiping his mouth. "'Directed study' is study hall. It's 'directed' in that you choose what direction you want to take your studies." Tom just stared at him.

"You're fucking with me, right? Back home directed study always meant free period!" he asked. Jeremy laughed again.

"Nope, you have study hall. It's okay, I think the rest of us have it that period too." Jeremy smiled.

Tom pinched his nose and shut his eyes "God _damn_ it." He sighed. "Alright, well at least I won't have to suffer alone. C'mon," Tom grabbed his bag "let's go see if we can grab some food, if you can call it that here."

_Kadic Academy  
Cafeteria  
Minutes later…_

"Nope, definitely not." Ulrich said, shaking his head.

"Oh, _come on_ Ulrich!" Odd replied, shaking the Thermos again. "Just one teeny sip!"

"No way, man! I saw what you put in that! Hey!" He exclaimed as Odd tried to pour the Thermos' contents into his mouth. "Get outta here! _Get outta here!_" He pushed Odd away just as Jeremy and Tom sat down with their trays.

"You're such a pussy." Odd said, screwing the top back on the canister.

"Says the kid with the purple hair." Jeremy replied. Ulrich laughed. "What's going on now?"

"Ulrich won't try my breakfast shake." Odd whined. "He's being such a girl."

"Hey, you haven't even tried it!" Ulrich shot back.

"Maybe _I_ want _you_ to have all the glory of being the first human to try my revolutionary invention!"

"This isn't like the stone-friend-thing, is it?" Jeremy asked.

"The _companion brick_ is a guaranteed millionaire success scheme!" Odd retorted.

"Uh, excuse me?" Tom piped in. "_What?_"

"Never mind." Ulrich told him. "It's just another dumb idea of Odd's."

"Well what's in it?" Tom asked.

"It's a brick." Jeremy told him.

"Not _that_, asshole, the shake!"

Odd beamed proudly. "See? At least someone's man enough here to try it!"

"Whoa, wait, no, I was just—" Odd cut Tom off.

"Contained in the patent-pending Odd Vita-Shake is everything a growing body needs in a balanced breakfast!" Odd said, putting on a salesman's air. "Protein, Vitamins, Calcium, Carbohydrates, Sugar, and Fat!"

Tom looked down at Odd's tray, seeing the remainder of powdered eggs, an orange, a glass of milk, toast, whipped cream and bacon.

"You didn't just—just pour your breakfast into a Thermos and mash it around, did you?" Tom asked.

"No, I shook it too!" Odd replied. Jeremy pushed his tray away.

"I'm out." He said, burying his head in his hands.

"That is fucking gross, dude." Tom told him, digging into his own tray. "Though I can't imagine that it's any better tasting than all this crap alone."

"Could be worse." Said Yumi, sitting down at the table.

"I just thought the French were known for their cuisine…" Tom trailed off.

"Yeah, well you should've seen it. Odd put half a bottle of hot sauce in 'To enhance the flavor.'" Ulrich told him. "I suppose if you don't have any taste buds…" The group chuckled as Odd glared at Ulrich. The group continued eating until the bell rang.

"Guess it's time for class." Yumi said, standing. "See you guys later!"

"Hey, before you go," Tom began, "Do you know where 'Language Room 3B' is?"

"Yeah, that's where I have Italian. Why?"

"That's where I have Italian too."

"Oh, cool! Yeah, I'll show you where it is."

"Great, see you guys!" Tom said, waving. Ulrich just stood there watching as they left the caf.

"Dude, is he—"

"No." Odd cut him off. "C'mon, you are talking to the master of pick up lines here."

"Besides, you've seen pictures of his girlfriend, you know she's real." Jeremy added.

"Alright, I mean, it's not like I care or anything." Ulrich said quickly.

"Yeah, sure, buddy." Odd said, poking him in the ribs. He shook his Thermos "Now how good you think my chances are to sell this to Sissi as a beauty potion?"

"You're sick, Odd. Really sick." Odd just grinned.

_Kadic Academy  
Science Classroom 4B  
1048 hours-Second Period_

Italian had passed quite slowly for Tom, as he'd already learned a great deal of the basics in his agent indoctrination. Now, however, he was back in science, where the Chief Engineer from the local nuclear plant was giving them a lecture.

"Our heating plant uses energy supplied by a nuclear reactor," He was saying, pointing at a picture of the plant projected on the backdrop behind him. "thanks to which we produce thousands of megawatts of electrical power. Here we have the cooling tower, this is the turbine, the alternator, and, finally, the reactor." He tapped the corresponding pictures on the screen. Mike Maillard in the second row yawned. "This plant is one of the most powerful in the world, and as Chief Engineer, I am particularly concerned with safety." The man continued.

Ulrich stared out the window as a flock of seagulls passed by. Tom, however, was sitting next to him paying rapt attention. Odd was drawing pictures of Kiwi pissing on a rock, and Jeremy was taking notes.

"To guarantee this safety, security measures have been applied at every level of production; the plant's design, its function and problem phases." Ulrich was still zoning out. Tom wrote a few questions down in his notebook to ask later. "We call this combination of safety measures 'in-depth defense.'" Sissi sat with her back to the window, flipping through a fashion magazine. Ulrich noticed and elbowed Tom to get his attention.

"Hey, looks like someone's off the meds, huh?" he snickered.

"Eh?" Tom turned to look at him. "Who's off the what-now?"

"Oh, right, you wouldn't remember. Sorry." The engineer was beginning to wrap up his presentation.

"I'll be glad to answer any questions?" he began. Jeremy and Tom's arms shot up.

"Uh, sir?" Jeremy asked.

"Yes, go on Jeremy. Tom, you're next." Mrs. Hertz replied. Jeremy stood.

"I'd like to know if an atomic process exists for fusing virtual particles, and materializing them in the real world." He said quickly. Ulrich, Tom, and Odd looked at him and smiled. The engineer just groaned.

"Son, that is in the realm of science fiction, sorry." He said pushing his glasses up. "Do you have a question pertaining to real life?" Jeremy just sat back down.

"Jeremy is an excellent student," Mrs. Hertz began, walking forward, "but he is a bit of a dreamer." The class chuckled as Jeremy held his head in his hands. "Tom?" she asked.

"Yes, sir." Tom began, standing. "I have a couple of questions. First of all, I was wondering what your protocols were for disposing of spent nuclear fuel?"

"Ah, an excellent question." The engineer answered. "Because of stringent environmental policies, most of our spent fuel is sealed in ceramic casks and shipped via secure train to a disposal site in central Russia. These sites are—"

"Sorry, sir." Tom interrupted "Perhaps I should've been more specific. What are your security protocols for securing the spent fuel from terrorists and other extremists seeking to use the material in 'dirty bombs' for terrorist attacks?"

The engineer frowned. "Another very good, if somewhat blunt question. However, to prevent against these extremists you speak of from intercepting a spent fuel shipment, our security measures are classified. I will, however, tell you that the shipments are very secure, and are monitored constantly by an international team of IAEA inspectors. Satisfied?" Tom nodded. "Any further questions?" he continued.

"Yes." Tom replied. "Is your reactor a breeder reactor? As in, is it capable of producing weapons-grade nuclear material?"

The engineer scowled again and was about to answer when suddenly the projector flickered and died.

"Well, now," Mrs. Hertz began. "What's happened here?" She began fiddling with the projector. "Oh, it's certainly nothing serious. Just a blown fuse, that's all." She smiled at the engineer while Jeremy turned to look at Odd, Ulrich, and Tom. Odd just shrugged. A few minutes later, the bell rang, and class was dismissed.

As the classroom emptied, Ulrich and Tom caught up with Odd and Jeremy. Odd turned to Tom as they left the room.

"Those were some pretty pointed questions you threw at that guy, Tom." He said.

"Yeah, what was all that about?" Ulrich chimed in.

"Just trying to catch him in a slip-up, is all." Tom replied. "Truth is, the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has had some questions about the security of that reactor for a while. I was just trying to 

see if I could catch this guy giving away some classified information. He seemed to handle it pretty well. However," Tom continued, "we'll never know since that projector burned out." Tom shrugged.

"Yeah, I wonder about that..." Jeremy replied, lost in thought.

"What, it was probably just a blown fuse, right?" Odd asked. "I mean, it can't be anything sinister."

"And I'm saying that maybe XANA is behind this!" Jeremy replied.

"Don't get so excited, Jeremy, it was just a short circuit." Odd told him as they met up with Yumi, who had been waiting outside.

"Yeah, and last time we thought that, a giant teddy bear attacked the school!"

_A teddy bear?_ Tom thought. "Hold on a sec, _what?_"

"Yeah, Tom, we'll have to fill you in on that later. Here comes Principal Delmas." Yumi told him.

Sure enough, a moment later, the Principal's stern voice called out across the courtyard. "Odd!" he called. The group turned to look at him. "I've thought it over, and you can form your group, the-er, 'Foxtrot Fanatics'?"

"YES!" Odd screamed with a double fist-pump.

"It's the 'Pop-Rock Progressives', sir." Yumi told him, smiling. Delmas nodded.

"But it must be open to anyone who wishes to play, is that clear?" he added.

"No problemo, sir." Odd replied as the group nodded. Apparently satisfied, Principal Delmas nodded and began to walk away before quickly turning back.

"Oh, yes, one more thing. Tom, there's a couple of packages for you in the main annex. Be sure to come by and pick them up before Ms. Weber trips on them, hm?" Tom nodded and Delmas left.

"YEAH!" Odd screamed, power-sliding on the pavement. "Let's hear it for the God of Rock and Roll!"

"Whoa, hold on, you guys are forming a band?" Tom asked, suddenly interested. "Awesome."

Odd checked his watch. "Hey, come on! If we step on it, we can photocopy the leaflets before lunch, Jeremy." Jeremy put up his hands.

"Well, you know, Odd, I'm not really into rock." Jeremy replied. Tom just stared at him.

"Well you're just going to _hate_ me." Tom whispered.

"Besides," Jeremy continued, "I want to check on that outage." With that he left towards the dormitories. The group watched him go.

"Poor, tortured soul." Tom said, shaking his head.

"Well, you wanna come, Tom?" Ulrich asked.

"Nah, I gotta…pick up these packages." He mumbled, and walked away.

"Man, what's up with him?" Odd asked.

"I don't know, he got all edgy just a second ago, when you mentioned the band." Yumi told him. "Weird."

* * *

**There you go, folks, just a bit of exposition for you. The real action starts next chapter. As usual, tell me how I'm doing. Let me reiterate that more reviews _will_ lead to faster updates. If I see readers and no comments, then I start to think this story's got no future, then I'll stop writing it, then we ALL lose...**

**'Til next time...**

**Ocelot014**

**P.S. And that _is_ what Odd was drawing a picture of, right?**

* * *


	13. Deep Cover: Chapter 2

**(Chapter 2-High Voltage)**

_Kadic Academy  
__Men's Dormitories-Room 24: Jeremy Belpois/Thomas Walker  
1127 hours_

Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi were out making copies, Tom was picking up a package, and Jeremy was on his computer, hacking his way through the power company's monitor system.

All was right with the world.

As Jeremy localized the school's power grid, he noticed that his computer had an incoming audio stream, but it wasn't coming through his headset.

"Weird, why can't I hear anything?" he asked himself. He pressed a few more keys. "Let's check this out." He said, resetting his connection to Lyoko.

"Aelita?" He called as the connection reestablished. "Aelita, do you read me?"

Aelita, sitting in a tower in the forest sector, responded "Loud and clear, Jeremy." She leaned closer to the holoscreen in front of her. "Is everything okay?"

"We had a power failure in class this morning, and the school electricity system seems to be having problems." He explained. Aelita shoved the holoscreen to the side. Her face appeared on Jeremy's monitor.

"And?" She asked, "Do you think XANA's behind it, Jeremy?"

"You never know…" Jeremy replied, "Have you noticed anything on Lyoko?"

"No." Aelita shook her head. "Everything's quiet here."

"Okay, I'll do a scan." Jeremy initialized the tower scan. "If XANA's activated a tower, we'll find out soon."

"Where are you going?" Aelita asked as Jeremy stood up to leave.

"To the cafeteria," Jeremy replied, "They've got Brussels sprouts today. Do you know what they are?"

"Yes, but I don't know what they taste like. Are they any good?"

"Not the way our school serves them." Jeremy chuckled as he replied. "Just keep an eye out for anything strange on Lyoko. Looks like today may be Tom's first day to go after all."

_Kadic Academy Exterior_

_12 Minutes later…_

As Odd was handing out flyers in the caf, Tom was struggling to carry two heavy boxes back from the main annex. One was a large 3x3 foot cube, and the other was a long thin rectangle. Tom had them balanced on top of each other, and it was taking a considerable deal of his strength to keep them straight.

_Man,_ he thought,_ why wouldn't Jim let me use the stupid hand-truck? 'Dangerous equipment' my ass! That clown just probably tripped over it. Oof! _He put down the boxes and rested for a minute and pushed his sunglasses back up his nose. He looked more closely at the packages and his eyes perked up as he recognized the address. _This is probably my—_ he was distracted as he saw his friends exit the cafeteria. He hefted the boxes and followed them around to the other side of the caf. He caught up to them and set his packages down, panting.

"Hey guys." He said, looking up. "What's goin' on?"

"Not much." Ulrich told him. "Odd's trying to decide what he wants from the machine."

"Didn't you guys just eat?"

"Yeah, so?" Odd asked. He turned back to the machine. "Let's see…Hot chocolate, no…Soup, no, the soup tastes like dishwater…what else…?"

Tom looked at Ulrich and mouthed "Do it." Ulrich smiled and punched the soup button.

"Hey! What the—" Odd yelled as the cup dropped from the machine. "Oh, you fucking bastard."

"Oh, come on." Ulrich told him. "It's not _that_ awful. Next to the concoction you made this morning, I'd call that stuff gourmet!"

The machine made a buzzing noise, and a brownish goop dripped from the nozzle.

"On second thought, I'm not sure I'd pay a euro for that." Ulrich pointed at the goop.

"Oh, this miserable machine is on the blink again!" Odd said, kicking the vending machine. He picked up the cup and sniffed it. "Eww!"

"Maybe it's another power failure." Jeremy suggested as he decided against the quick lunch he had come outside to get. Odd took his Thermos out of his bag.

"Are you worried?" Yumi asked.

"Yeah, I am." Jeremy replied. "I'll keep checking things out."

"Well, if you need us, we'll be in the gym. We're gonna hold auditions." She told him.

"Hey, wait, I thought you guys had directed study this period!" Tom interjected.

"Yeah, but we got out of it because of the auditions." Ulrich told him. "Jeremy never really has to go because he has a 3.98 grade point average. He just comes along to help us out."

"Hey, well I've got an idea. Why don't we just say Tom is helping with the auditions, and he goes with Jeremy to the factory and gets his first licks on Lyoko!" Odd suggested, pouring the contents of the soup container into the Thermos.

"Yeah!" Tom replied. "That way if something is going down on Lyoko, I'll be right there to help—Wait, what are you doing?" Odd was stirring the brown goop in with a plastic straw.

"Sodium" he replied. "It needs more sodium."

"Gross." Jeremy told him. He turned to face Tom. "Look, I don't know if that's a good idea, sending a first timer in alone."

"All the better for you to send me in now when there's not an imminent threat. I can figure out how to fight before shit actually goes down. Besides," Tom shrugged. "It's not like I'm a complete greenhorn. I've been in combat before. And you'll have my back every step of the way." He flashed Jeremy a thumbs-up.

"Fine." Jeremy conceded. "Let's go."

"I'll meet you there." Tom told him, picking up his packages. "I want to drop this stuff off, ok?"

"You know how to get there?"

"I made it there Saturday, didn't I?" Tom smiled. "Go on ahead. I'll be right behind you."

_À Côte de la Seine Nuclear Power Plant  
__Reactor Control Room  
Meanwhile…_

Vincent Reno stretched back in his chair and yawned. He closed his eyes and smiled. _It's good to be the king._ He thought. Chief Engineer Delaquer was off giving a lecture to some preppy boarding school kids, and, as Chief Field Engineer, he was the ranking man in charge for the day since the Lead Foreman called in sick. He smiled to himself again. DeLaquer was terrible with people, he wouldn't want to see how he handled those teenage brats. His subordinates called him "The Goat" behind his back, for his choice of facial hair and his tendency to quickly lose his temper. Reno remembered the last time someone called him that to his face. The man had been brutally head butted out of the job, unfortunately for him.

A low beeping tone shook Reno from his thoughts. He cracked an eye open, trying to determine the source of the sound. A blinking orange light on the coolant pump monitor for reactor 2 caught his attention. Reno sat for a moment, confused, before getting up and finally walking his way to the panel. Silencing the notification, Reno noticed that the pressure in the reactor's primary induction loop had fallen. It was still within a nominal range, but it had slipped just low enough to trigger an alert. He looked further down the panel and realized that the Pilot-Operated-Release-Valve, designed to relieve reactor pressure, had been opened.

_Now who the _hell _did that?_ Reno thought, flipping the switch to close the valve. The switch would close the valve, and reactor pressure would rise again, and the regulatory mechanisms within the reactor would even everything out. He wouldn't have to file any annoying paperwork or face Delaquer's wrath. He smiled as he went back to his chair. He would still have to check on-

The buzzing of his cell phone interrupted him. He reached down and checked the caller ID. It was the main switchboard.

"Hello?" Reno answered.

"Hey Vincent, I have a kid who just called claiming he saw one of our pylons sparking in Sector 1." The woman at the switchboard answered. Vincent couldn't remember her name, but he knew she had fantastic legs. "You got anything on your end?"

"Eh?" Reno replied, mind still on her glorious form. "Um, let me check." Reno walked over to the monitoring station tracking electricity flow throughout the grid. "Nope, all in the green. Looks like a prank caller." Reno assured her.

"Ok, then it must be a series of pranks, because we just got another two complaints about it. Are you absolutely sure?" she demanded.

Reno scowled. "Fine, I'll double and triple check. Call you right back." Reno snapped his phone shut and sat down at the monitor. He clicked through a series of screens and the exact same status report came up. _See, I knew it! Green across the board._ Reno smiled to himself once more, thinking about how to use this situation as leverage to ask the woman behind the switchboard out. He turned to call her once again when something on the bottom corner of the screen caught his attention. He looked closer, blinked several times and rubbed his eyes, making sure they weren't playing tricks on him. He looked once more just to be sure. There was no doubt, the time stamp for the most recent monitor check read at 4 AM. Sliding back into the chair behind the station, he began flicking through screens and menus. _Odd._ He thought. A computer glitch hadn't refreshed the monitors in over eight hours. Reno did a manual refresh, and the screen changed drastically.

_Oh my God!_ Thought Reno. 45 of the electric grid was experiencing brownout, with several sectors blacked out entirely. There was a strong localization of power in one sector. _Hell,_ Reno thought, _Just one pylon!_

"I've never seen such a strange thing." Reno said aloud as he pulled his phone out to call the Foreman back into work. Finishing up, he grabbed his helmet and headed out to his truck. _Looks like I'm going to be filling out some paperwork after all._ Reno thought to himself as he left the room. _Shit!_

_Men's Dormitories-Room 24: Jeremy Belpois/Thomas Walker  
1158 hours_

Tom pushed his way into the room, almost tripping over the boxes he had carried. He dragged them over to his bed and sat down on it, breathing hard. Taking a few minutes to recover, Tom grabbed his knife from his drawer and slid the thin rectangular box onto his bed.

_I think I know what this is!_ Tom thought excitedly as he slit the box open. Removing the excess packing peanuts, he slid out a thin rectangular black plastic case. Tom reached into his pocket for his wallet, and removed a small key from it. Only one other person in the world had a matching key, and Tom hoped that they had packed the case with exactly what he wanted. He unlocked the case and opened it, a grin spreading across his face as he saw what was inside.

"Oh, _yes!_" Tom exclaimed as he ran his hands across the object inside. He was just about to take it out when an ominous series of beeps began emanating from Jeremy's computer. He closed the case back up and woke the computer up, revealing the results of Jeremy's scan of the power company's grid. A message popped up on the screen.

_Grid Scan v. 2.0.3_

_Anomaly Detected- Grid REGBLGNE-BILCRTS1—Over Capacity Warning_

_Isolate?_

Tom clicked 'Yes' and lines isolated a section of the map. Kadic was in the bottom left corner, and the power plant was in the top right, all within the boundaries drawn by the computer. Yellow lines soon criss-crossed the map. _By the way they follow the roads, I'd say those are power lines._ Tom thought. The lines began to flow and converge on a certain point, which the computer highlighted in red. Another message popped up.

_Grid Scan v.2.0.3_

_Anomaly Isolated- Grid REGBLGNE-BILCRTS1_

_Isolated HTP105TRANS-2—Over Capacity Warning_

_Details: HTP105TRANS-2 Nominal Capacity: 100,000V Current Capacity:398,927V (12:01:57) Max Capacity: 1,000,000V_

_Begin Live Track?_

Tom clicked 'Yes' again and pulled out his cell phone, flipping through the contacts until he reached Jeremy's number. He dialed, and a few moments later Jeremy picked up.

"Tom, are you on your way?" he asked. He sounded a little worried. Tom could hear him still running.

"Yeah, I'm leaving in a minute. Your computer just sounded an alert and I wanted to check it out. We've got a high tension pylon running about 300,000 volts over capacity, and rising if the track is right. Why aren't you at the factory yet?"

"I had to make a detour. The lines out here are all sparking. I followed the direction of the current and it's all flowing into one transformer about one mile from the school, the last one before the nuclear plant itself. You wouldn't believe what it looks like!" Jeremy exclaimed.

"I can imagine. Hey, is there some way I can transfer this data to your screen at the factory? It'd be a lot better if you took over the tracking." Tom asked.

"Yeah, open a socket by pressing F8 and typing in the IP address. It's on a sticky note on my monitor. I can access the track once you've done that. I'm making my way down the elevator now."

"Gotcha." Tom punched the command into the keyboard. No sooner had he pressed enter than the monitors flickered and went out. "Oh, shit! What'd I do?" Tom cursed.

"What!" Jeremy yelled. "What happened?"

"I think I just killed your computer." Tom said, pushing the power button. He swung the chair around and tried his desk lamp, on another fuse. Dead. "Or maybe just the power. The whole room is dead."

"Phew, ok, then it's probably just a blackout. The high tension pylon is drawing too much power. I managed to get the data before the power failed, so I'll keep an eye on the track." Tom heard the sound of clicking keys. "I'm also launching a scan for an activated tower. Meanwhile, go roust the troops. I'll let you know if I find anything."

"Got it. Walker out." Tom said as he hung up the phone. "_Walker out?"_ He thought as he ran out the door. _That can't be healthy._

Meanwhile, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi were sitting in the auditorium, waiting for the next auditioner. Mike Maillard had proven to be too heavy metal for the group's taste, while Naomi N'Guyen was just way too inexperienced, as were many other would-be percussionists. Odd still had his heart set on her, but the rest of the crew thought she was a wash. Ulrich was beginning to lose hope, just as Tom burst through the door.

"Hey guys!" he called as he walked over and pulled up a chair.

"Tom, you don't happen to play drums, do you?" Yumi asked.

"Wha-? No, I play something else. Look, guys, we may have a problem."

"No kidding! We can't find any decent drummers." Ulrich replied.

"There's that," Tom conceded, "as well as the fact that the electricity is cutting out all over the school, there's an overloaded power pylon outside, and Jeremy's over at the factory getting all flustered."

"Again?" Odd sighed.

"Yeah, he said he'd let us know if he picked up anything on Lyoko." Tom sat up as the auditorium doors opened. "Perfect, here comes more trouble."

"Eh?"

"It begins with 'S' and ends in 'bitchy', oops, 'issi'." Tom said, just as Sissi Delmas and her cohort reached the gang.

"Surprise!" she said, walking over and pulling up a chair.

"How'd she find out about this?" Odd whispered. "Did you give her a flyer?"

"She probably just stole one." Ulrich replied under his breath.

"It's obvious my friends and I aren't very welcome, but, my _father_ did say that the band was open to everybody, right?" The group just stood there staring at her while Odd looked down her shirt.

"Oh, but don't worry!" she continued. "I don't want to be in a group of deadbeat weirdoes! Nicholas, however, just loves the drums." She patted him on the shoulder.

"A drummer, huh?" Odd replied. "He looks like he should be banging on hollow skulls with a stick! Whose do you use, your skull or Sissi's?"

Sissi scowled while Nicholas just walked over and picked up the drumsticks. Tom spun his chair around to get a better look.

Nicholas counted off and started his set with a roll on the snare, shifting down to the floor tom-tom. His foot began working at the bass drum pedal, setting the beat while his snare pattern evolved into what sounded like a funk rhythm. He continued this pattern on two of the other toms before finishing the set with a bit of flourish by adding a fill in at the end before hitting the crash symbol.

"Yeah!" he cried out when he finished. Sissi and Herve applauded as he took a bow and stepped away from the set. Even Tom, Ulrich and Yumi clapped when he finished. Odd just sat there scowling.

"Look like you found yourselves a drummer!" Sissi snickered as they left.

"Nicholas? The drummer in our band?" Odd asked incredulously. "I don't care how good he is, the answer is no!"

"Why not?" Tom asked. "Dude, he's _good_!" Tom's phone trilled and he reached down to answer it. "Hello?"

"I think Sissi set this up just to give us a hard time!" Odd continued.

"Maybe for once she was trying to help!" Yumi countered. "You've got to admit that Nicholas can really play the drums."

"A lot better than Naomi, that's for sure." Ulrich added, stretching back in his seat.

"Uh huh." Tom was saying on the phone. "Ok, got it, we're on our way." Tom snapped his phone shut. "Ok guys—" Odd cut him off.

"She's only a beginner, she needs a little more time!"

"Uh, guys?"

"Yeah, another couple of years should do it." Ulrich responded.

"Hello, anyone listening?" Tom's words continued to fall on deaf ears.

"Well if that's how you feel," Odd began "then listen up! If you want—"

"ATTENTION BICKERING GRANDMOTHERS!" Tom cut Odd off, yelling. "There's only a slight _crisis_ on our hands, so if you can quit faffing about for five seconds, we've got to get moving!"

"What's your deal now?" Odd asked.

"Jeremy called and he needs us at the factory, and he means it." Tom told them.

"Then why'd you take so long to tell us?" Ulrich asked.

"I-wait, wha—?"

"Yeah, if it was that urgent, why didn't you interrupt?" Yumi replied, grinning.

"Assholes. Go ahead, pick on the new guy." Tom replied. "Let's go."

"Oh, we're absolutely not done with this argument!" Odd yelled as they left.

"We'll finish it on the way. C'mon." Ulrich told him, looking back as they left the auditorium, and bumping straight into a rather surprised Jim Morales.

"Oof! Uh, hey! Where are you all going? You're not finished with your auditions yet!" Jim told them.

"Yeah, we found what we were looking for." Ulrich started walking backwards towards the exit.

"Oh, _no we haven't!_" Odd's face started twitching.

"Yeah!" Jim chimed in "You guys haven't auditioned me for slide trombone yet!" He hefted the shiny instrument and waived it around.

"Yeah! We haven—What?" Odd turned to face Jim, who was playing a few practice notes.

"So what do you think, am I in?" Jim asked, grinning.

"Um, we're taking the band in another direction." Yumi told him. "As in, away from a military brass band and more towards, um…"

"Let's put it this way," Tom jumped in, "less "Rolling Stones", more "AC/DC", ok? Sorry, but we've gotta run." the crew continued to back their way towards the exit.

Jim seemed to consider this for a moment before looking up and shouting "Oh no you don't! You're not going anywhere until you agree to take me as part of your group!" Jim yelled after them just as the exit door banged shut.

Odd, Tom, Ulrich and Yumi raced through the park, eventually skidding to a stop next to a manhole cover accessing the sewers. Tom suppressed a moment of fear that he had brought them to his bunker, then shrugged it off as he climbed down the ladder.

"See, your skateboard's right here, moron." Ulrich was telling Odd. "You didn't have to give me a damn heart attack Saturday! You know the return trip brings it back every time!"

"Excuse me if I was a bit worried!" Odd shot back. "But I did get there faster than you!"

"Hey, guys, can you tell me—"

"Look, Tom," Ulrich replied. "There's some stuff you missed, we'll fill you in on it later. You ready to go?"

"Um, yeah, but I can't follow you guys."

"Why not?" Yumi asked.

"I don't know how to skateboard. Besides, there's no extra one." Tom told them, scratching the back of his head.

"Here." Odd tossed him Jeremy's scooter. "You can use one of these, right?" Tom nodded. "Good, I'll teach you how to skateboard later. Let's go, and try to keep up." With that, they took off down the sewer towards the factory.

* * *

**There you have it, folks, another brave new chapter for you all to enjoy. As you might be guessing, I'm trying to tweak the original episode's idea about an attack on a nuclear plant into a slightly more realistic vein. That's something that is really going to manifest itself in the coming chapters.**

**Stay tuned for next time for more action!**

**Cheers,  
Ocelot out.  
**

**P.S. If you happen to be a fan of the old Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM TV series, check out the proof of concept chapter I've submitted and let me know what you think! You can link to it through my profile.**


	14. Deep Cover: Chapter 3

**(Chapter 3-Countdown to Disaster)**_  
Supercomputer Control Room  
12:28 Hours_

Jeremy had the tower located, Aelita on the holomap, and the coordinates set for the transfer to Lyoko. All he needed now was someone to actually be there to go.

_Come on, come on!_ He thought, glancing at the readout monitoring the overloading high tension pylon. _Where is everyone?_ His question was answered by the sound of the whirring elevator and the hissing of the large blast doors as they opened, revealing just the people he wanted to see.

"At last!" Jeremy called as the group approached.

"Sorry we're late." Ulrich told him. "Tom took a digger jumping the stairs."

"Yeah." Tom said, holding up a scraped up elbow and forearm. "Remind me to clean the blood off your scooter."

"Whatever." Jeremy sighed, turning towards his computer. "Well, here's what XANA's up to." Jeremy pointed at the screen, showing a virtual representation of the nuclear plant. Several areas flashed red. In the next window, Jeremy had pulled up a virtual image of the overloaded transformer. A ticking bar slowly counted upwards before reaching the top and recycling down to the bottom again. "XANA is attacking the nuclear plant!"

"What? How?"

"He's disabling their in-depth defense. He's gone after pressure control, turbine safety, SCRAM systems, everything!" Jeremy waved his hands wildly.

"Ok, slow down." Ulrich told him. "Tell us _exactly_ what the issue is."

Jeremy took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. _Layman's terms_. He thought. "Okay, Côte de la Seine's number two reactor is a "Pressurized Water Reactor." I don't have time to explain fully how it works, but it essentially takes heat energy from fission reactions and uses it to create steam, which turns the turbine and generates electrical energy."

"Ok, got that, go on." Tom encouraged.

"What XANA is doing is disabling all of the safety measures the reactor has, as well as going after its primary capabilities. At a precise moment, XANA will begin failing certain systems. He'll disable the plant's main feedwater pumps so that the steam generators will no longer remove heat from the reactor. Normally, this would cause the reactor and turbine to automatically shut down, but XANA's infiltrated those programs too. The reactor will continue to operate under extremely dangerous conditions while side-pressure continues to build. A pilot-operated-release-valve would normally drain the excess pressure, but it's been manually closed for some reason.

"Coolant water will stop flowing into the system, and reactor heat will increase dangerously, to the point where the plutonium rods will actually start to melt. At a precise moment, a significant amount of energy will be released back into the reactor. The intense heat and energy will cause the radioactive coolant water to flash to steam, igniting hydrogen gas that has built up around the core, creating a huge explosion that will send radioactive particles scattering through the air." Jeremy tapped the representation of the pylon. "That precise moment depends on the amount of voltage stored here.

"Once XANA has enough voltage stored in this pylon, he'll unleash it all."

"Oh, shit." Tom breathed.

"The pylon can store one million volts." Jeremy continued. "Once it's all accumulated, XANA can blow everything up!"

"Oh, shit." echoed Odd.

"Nuclear sabotage, that's a bit out of our league, wouldn't you say?" said Yumi.

"Yeah, what do you mean?" Ulrich turned to look at her.

"Think about it! If we fail on Lyoko the entire region could be wiped out!" Yumi exclaimed.

"Whoa, flashbacks." Tom said, holding his head. "Ok, are we looking at the possibility of a nuclear explosion here? That's impossible right?"

Jeremy nodded. "Yes, prompt criticality, or the accelerated creation of neutrons, requires very specific conditions to achieve and is physically impossible in a pressurized water reactor like they have at Côte de la Seine. It will, however, release thousands of rads worth of radiation, and likely contaminate the river as well. We're talking about a nuclear disaster of epic proportions."

"It's settled then." Yumi spoke. "I think we've got to warn the authorities!"

"Are you crazy?" Jeremy asked incredulously. "There'll be an inquiry, and we'll be questioned. We'll have to tell them everything, and if they discover XANA, they'll pull the plug."

"I know, and we'll lose Aelita!" Yumi replied. "But we're talking about a nuclear disaster! It has to be done!"

"Oh, shit." Ulrich rubbed his face as Jeremy and Yumi stared each other down.

"Okay." Jeremy broke the silence. "Let's take a vote. Who's for raising the alarm? Yumi?"

"For."

"Against." Jeremy raised his hand. "Odd?"

"Against." Aelita's face appeared on the screen.

"Ulrich?"

Ulrich turned to look at Aelita. "Sorry, Aelita, but I also think we can't take that big of a risk. I vote for. Let's report it."

Jeremy turned to Tom. "Tom?"

"Abstain." Tom told them.

"What? You can't do that!" Jeremy exclaimed. "Make a choice!"

"I can, I will, and I have. Look, I know what I have to do, regardless of the decision of this vote. There are always other options, we just have to be creative. There must be another way to stop this than through Lyoko or through telling the authorities, and that's the option I'm taking. Sorry if you don't like my decision, but I'm going to do what has to be done."

Jeremy took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. "Fine, do what you have to do. But we need to resolve this decision."

"Don't I have the right to vote?" Aelita asked.

"Why sure you do!" Jeremy responded. "That way there won't be a tie."

"In that case, I vote for."

"Huh?" Jeremy turned to face her.

"I don't want thousands of people to die just to save me." Jeremy just scowled.

"Thank you, Aelita." Yumi smiled.

"Alright," Jeremy conceded. "Odd and Ulrich, get to the scanners. I'll send you as soon as you're ready. Tom, Yumi, the pylon is about one mile north of the school. Get there as soon as possible, and let me know if anything changes."

"Likewise." Yumi replied. "And good luck."

_City Streets  
1241 hours_

As Odd and Ulrich began tower-hunting on Lyoko, Yumi and Tom raced through the blacked out city streets. Yumi had her skateboard, and Tom was on Jeremy's scooter, feeling rather silly.

"You know, my friends and I used to race these things down the street back home." Tom told her.

"Really?"

"Yeah, in seventh grade."

"Oh."

"Well, it's better than me banging myself up on the skateboard." Tom shrugged.

"I guess so." Yumi sighed as they sped along. "So you must be disappointed, huh?"

"Eh?"

"For not being able to go to Lyoko today. It could've been your big debut."

"True." Tom replied. "But you've gotta understand, I'm not doing this because I want to. I'm doing this because I think it's the best way to defuse this crisis. What I'm about to do," Tom swallowed, "is onerous, dangerous, and likely impossible to succeed, but it's _necessary. _And that's the part of me that takes over on a mission, the part that does whatever must be done to achieve my goal. And the other part of me _hates_ that part for it."

Yumi just remained silent. She'd seen Tom get philosophical a few times already, and knew it was best she didn't say anything.

"So what do you want to do? Do you want to notify the principal, or go straight to the source?" Tom asked as they stopped in front of Kadic's main entrance.

"Ugh. I feel that if I go to the principal, they'll look at me like I'm crazy." Yumi replied, shaking her head.

"Well, can't hurt to try." Tom replied. "It's all in how you say things." Tom reached down to his ankle and retrieved his P228. "I happen to be very persuasive." Tom pulled the slide back on the pistol and screwed a silencer on the end of the barrel. Yumi looked a little shocked.

"Do you take that thing with you everywhere?"

"Never leave home without it." Tom grinned as he stuffed it into his waist. "Go see what you can do with the principal. I'll go try and persuade the workers at the source."

"Be careful." Yumi instructed, putting a hand on Tom's arm.

"Always am, ma'am. Lemme know how it goes." Tom winked and scooted off down the street. Yumi turned and headed towards the principal's office.

Tom continued scooting, following the crackling electricity from the lines overhead. He stopped about a block away from the pylon. Quickly surveying the area, Tom quickly crossed the street and hid in a clump of tall bushes down the street from a small coffee shop, and right across the street from where a collection of workers stood staring mystified at the malfunctioning pylon. He listened in on a worker reporting back to the plant.

"I don't understand it. The switching station's rerouted all flow away from this pylon, and you're telling me electricity is still moving into it?" There was a burst of static and a garbled voice on the other side of the conversation. "Okay, and you've tried rerouting from your end?" Another garbled reply. "Alright, well I'll keep working on it from over here. I'll get back to you." With that, the man put his radio back onto his belt.

_I need that radio._ Tom thought. He was struggling to come up with a scheme to grab it when the engineer turned around and yelled to his coworker, "Hey Alan! I gotta run to the bathroom! Let me know if anything comes up!" The engineer started walking in Tom's direction, towards the coffee shop.

_Now's my chance!_ Tom thought, not believing his luck. Tom looked across the street to make sure nobody was looking, before reaching out and grabbing the very surprised engineer, clamping a hand over his mouth before dragging him back into the bushes. Tom knelt on his body, keeping one hand firmly over his mouth while Tom's other hand reached for his pistol. Tom poked his head up. Once satisfied that nobody had seen or heard his maneuver, he swung around and pointed his pistol in the engineer's face.

Keeping his arms pinned with his legs, Tom whispered to the man "You make one sound or attempt to escape and I _will_ kill you, do you understand?" The man nodded, his eyes wide with fear. "Good." Tom removed his hand from the engineer's mouth and crept back a foot.

"Now roll over onto your stomach, slowly put your hands behind your head and interlock your fingers. Do it _now_." Tom growled. The man complied, shaking as he did, breath coming in ragged gasps. Tom moved over and pulled out a small plastic locking strip, and proceeded to flex cuff the cowering engineer, while grabbing his radio.

"What's your name?" Tom asked once he had rolled him back to a sitting position.

"Vincent." The man replied. "Vincent Reno."

"Okay, Vincent, if you do exactly as I tell you then I promise you won't get hurt." Tom held the radio up to the man's face. "I need you to call your boss and tell him you're in the bathroom and that it's going to be a while. Make any attempt to notify him of what's happened and they pick bits of your skull up from the ground with tweezers, got it?" The man nodded again and Tom pushed the 'Transmit' button on the radio.

"Uh, hey boss, it's Vincent." He began. "Look, I'm heading in the bathroom right now, I'll be out of touch for a while."

"Okay, I really didn't need to know that, thanks anyway though." Came the garbled reply. Tom put the radio down.

"Good." Tom told him as he plugged in a hands-free adapter to his phone, scrolling through the contacts. "Now why can't you cut the power to the pylon?"

"Wha-what?" Vincent asked, surprised by the question.

"Listen to me. I have intelligence that once that pylon reaches its maximum capacity all of its energy will be released on the plant, causing a meltdown. _Thousands_ of people _will_ die if we don't stop that from happening, now how do I cut the power from the pylon?"

Vincent just sat there shaking. "Oh, God! I-uh, I don't—"

Tom sighed. "Lookit, asshole, I'm not asking you to do anything that's going to hurt someone. Just listen to what I'm saying. I want to cut the power flowing in, and most certainly out of that pylon. How do I do that?"

"Y-you can't." Vincent told him. "We've tried every conventional way we can think of. There's nothing-"

"Then it's time to think unconventionally. How about shutting down the plant, could that work?"

"It-it might, but it would leave the city in total blackout until we could remove it."

Tom smiled. "Open your eyes, chief, we're already blacked out." Tom thumbed his phone and dialed Jeremy's number. "And we're running out of time."

_Lyoko__  
Desert Region  
1303 hours_

Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich stood around an oasis in the ground, utterly confused. All of XANA's pulsations converged on this one spot, yet there was no tower in sight. Odd sat by the edge of the water, tossing a rock between his hands. Aelita was pacing around, and Ulrich was taking chunks out of the ground with his sword. He shifted a stone away from the pile he was making, lined up, bent his knees a bit, and swung. Ulrich winced as he watched the rock whizz off badly to the left.

"Fore!" he called, lining up to take another shot.

"No, no, you're doing it all wrong." Odd said, walking over. "Keep your left arm straight and keep your feet spaced evenly apart, not in some wonky combat stance."

"Oh, come on, like _you_ know how to play golf!"

"As a matter of fact I do!" Odd replied indignantly. "A gentleman such as myself is well schooled in the fine sport. I wouldn't expect a ruffian like you to understand. Now it's my turn to take a shot."

"Fuck hell it is! The last thing I need is my sword going flying off into the abyss!"

"Oh, come on, you're just afraid at being shown up in front of a girl!" Odd pointed to Aelita.

"I am not, you little—"

"HEY!" Jeremy's voice boomed at them like the voice of God, making them jump. "What the hell do you two think you're doing?"

"Nothing, just having a gentlemanly game of golf." Odd replied.

"Well stop dicking around and find the damn tower! The pylon's at 85, Yumi just called and said that neither the principal nor the chief engineer believes her, and Tom isn't sure that he can get the reactor shut down."

"What do you want from us, man?" Ulrich exclaimed, exasperated. "We can't find the tower here."

"Yeah," Odd chimed in, still tossing his rock "This area's a dry hole." With that, he threw his rock into the oasis. Motes of light shot out from it.

"What the-" Aelita began. Odd walked over and stuck his hand in. The disturbed water shone with motes of light.

"I found it!" Odd exclaimed. "I was right, this oasis is a dry hole. The water here is only a surface layer!" Odd bent down next to the water. "I'll go have a closer look." Odd leapt into the water. Ulrich and Aelita looked at each other, shrugged, and then jumped in after him.

* * *

**There you go, everyone. Another new chapter! Things are getting a bit interesting now, huh? I decided to stick with the original idea of the nuclear plant meltdown, but I felt that the scenario presented in the show was rather flimsy and that any power plant worthy of its operation certificate would have some measure of defense against surges. So I feel that I made it just a BIT more plausible.**

**As for Tom, what do you think? This is the first introduction of an entire theme I'm beginning with him. Let me know your thoughts.**

**Of course, reviews are always more than appreciated, but rather lusted after, in a completely platonic kind of way. I mean it. Seriously.**

**Ocelot out.**


	15. Deep Cover: Chapter 4

**(Chapter 4-Beware Laser-armed Venereal Diseases)**

_Copse of Bushes__  
100 meters from High Tension Pylon 105  
1307 hours_

Tom cursed as he hung up the phone. The pylon was rapidly approaching 90 full, and they were no closer to being able to shut the reactor down. Yumi was on her way over after failing to convince either the principal or the chief engineer of the present danger. To top it off, the workers around the pylon were starting to wonder what had happened to their boss. Tom turned and knelt by Vincent.

"Okay, how do we get them to shut off the reactor?" Tom asked, checking the radio.

"Well, usually the chief engineer makes that call. I'm just a field team leader." He responded, shrugging.

Tom cursed again. "Well you're going to have to go over his head." Tom held up the radio. "Call it in."

"Look, even if I do, they're going to need a reason. That, coupled with the fact that I've been missing, is going to make it very hard for me to convince the plant to shut down."

"Well you're going to have to try." Tom told him, holding the radio in front of his face. He was about to press the 'Transmit' button when suddenly he heard the screech of tires and the slamming of a car door behind him. Tom turned to look, and out of the car climbed Chief Engineer DeLaquer, looking extremely annoyed. He took a couple of seconds to look around at the assembled crew before yelling, "Where the _fuck_ is Vincent Reno?"

_Lyoko  
Desert Sector  
Meanwhile…_

After a graceful drop from the faux-oasis, the crew raced towards the tower, now visible no more than a few hundred meters away.

Passing through a field of rocks, Odd stopped and pointed. "There!" Suddenly, out of nowhere, a trio of Krabbes appeared. Odd turned and gasped as the middle most one charged and shot, hitting him in the leg.

"Aaghh!" He cried in pain as he hopped around. "Stupid fucking krabbe! I've got some Herpecin for you right here!" He snickered, priming a laser arrow.

"Odd, that's for herp-"

"Look out!" Aelita called as a laser bolt sizzled past Odd's arm.

"Son of a bitch!" he cried. "Stop picking on me, you oversized parasite!" He sent a laser arrow in the direction of the encircling monsters. Ulrich drew his sword.

"Aelita, they're after you. Stay out of sight until we clear the area, got it?" Ulrich adopted a defensive stance as Odd shot off another arrow.

Aelita nodded. She didn't need much encouragement as she made a beeline for the rock garden behind them. One of the krabbes noticed and began chasing after her, firing as it ran.

"Aelita!" Odd called as he followed the chase. One laser blast came deadly close…

…only to be intercepted by Odd, who managed to somehow flip XANA's monsters off as he devirtualized, despite only having four fingers.

Ulrich swung around to face the monsters. After checking to make sure Aelita was safely out of immediate danger, he swung his sword.

"Well, I hate to be unoriginal, but…Triplicate!" He called, dividing himself, readying for an attack.

Meanwhile, things were getting worse on the ground. Two patrol cars from the local precinct had shown up onsite, and Doctor DeLaquer was telling the cops on no uncertain terms that Vincent Reno must be found, albeit with liberal use of expletives. The officers spread out and began their search as the engineer nervously lit up a cigarette.

"Son of a bitch." Tom grumbled as a pair of officers approached his position. He pointed his pistol at Reno. "Not a word." He told him. The cops passed close…

…and Reno coughed explosively.

"Fuck!" Tom growled, whacking Reno hard with the butt of his pistol, knocking him unconscious.

"Hey, what the-" One of the cops looked into the copse, spotting Tom. "You! Come out with your hands up!" The two officers drew their weapons as Tom stood up, using Reno's unconscious body as a shield as he pointed his pistol back at the policemen.

"Back up! Just back the fuck up!" Tom ordered the officers. Tom looked around, more were beginning to show up, encircling his position.

"It's over! You've got nowhere to go! Drop your weapon and put your hands in the air!"

Tom looked around again. _Damn it, they're calling my bluff. I can't kill this guy._ Tom dumped Reno's unconscious form unceremoniously on the ground and dropped his pistol, falling to his knees and locking his fingers behind his head. _I've failed again._ Tom thought as a pair of officers crashed through the bushes to take him into custody.

Back on Lyoko, Ulrich's middle form took out the center krabbe. Odd slid next to Jeremy back in the control room.

"Thanks for saving Aelita." Jeremy told him. "But now the pylon's at 95, XANA can attack the nuclear plant any minute!"

"Yeah, I know. Did Ulrich get him?" Odd asked.

"I-wha?"

"Did he get that fucker who zapped me?" Odd asked again.

"Um, I don't really know." Jeremy said, looking back at the screen. "Uh, he's taken down two now, so, maybe?"

"Good. Punk bitch." Odd relaxed and put a hand on Jeremy's shoulder. "Don't worry, we're gonna make it."

_City Streets  
1324 hours_

The policemen escorted Tom cuffless to a waiting patrol car, where they began searching him for more weapons. Tom turned and saw Yumi standing, jaw gaping, a few meters away from him.

"Hey Yumi." He called out, smiling as the cops continued to search him. "Any luck?"

"Tom, what the-?"

"Had a small hiccup, no biggie." Tom replied shrugging. "I don't think I had the gun loaded, did I?" he turned and asked the cop who was searching him. The cop just stared at him bewilderedly. "Could you check?" The officer just shook his head as he continued searching Tom. "I don't think I did…" Tom trailed off quietly.

Back on Lyoko, Ulrich fused his remaining doppelganger back into himself, taunting the last remaining krabbe. "C'mon, you ugly bastard! You only get one shot!"

"Are you nuts, Ulrich?" Jeremy's voice called in his ear, followed by a rustling noise.

"No, Ulrich, _get him!_" Odd's voice called. Ulrich took a laser blast to the shoulder but kept charging. He leapt atop the krabbe, impacting his sword onto the target.

"Aelita, go!" Ulrich yelled as the krabbe finished exploding. Aelita took off for the tower. "Jeremy, what's the status?"

"Ninety-Eight percent!" Jeremy replied. "It's gonna be close!"

Back outside, sparks poured out of the overloading pylon as Yumi tried desperately to get someone to listen to her.

"I'm serious, all of the energy stored in that pylon is going to be released on the nuclear plant! You have to do something!" She told two workers, who just looked at each other and shrugged. Yumi's fingers balled into a fist.

Aelita ran into the tower, concentric rings lighting up as she passed.

A cop placed the link of a handcuff around Tom's left arm.

Aelita rose to the top of the tower.

The readout on Jeremy's screen flicked two one hundred percent. Jeremy and Odd both gasped.

Aelita landed on the top platform.

"Oh, God no!" Yumi whispered as sparks began to stretch along the transmission line. The two workers she had been talking to stared blankly. Doctor Delaquer's cigarette fell out of his mouth.

Aelita moved to the center of the platform, unveiling the holoscreen.

As the cop moved to finish cuffing him, Tom quickly spun around and reached for the guard's waist. The sparks stretched towards the plant.

Aelita placed her hand on the holoscreen, leaving an afterimage shortly replaced by her name AELITA.

The guard was a lefty, and had the pistol on the other side of his hip. He swung, catching Tom in a soaring punch to the jaw. Tom crumpled to the ground. _No chance of shooting the lines out now_. He thought through the pain.

CODE appeared on the screen.

The sparks neared the plant…

LYOKO spelled out, and the sparks flickered to a stop. Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief as the pylon readout quickly drained. He leaned back in his chair.

"Ready for a trip to the past, Odd?"

Outside, Tom was surrounded by policemen with their weapons drawn, when suddenly a bright light appeared on the eastward horizon. The cops turned, and Tom rolled to watch. He and Yumi smiled as the bubble rose and engulfed them all in purifying, cleansing whiteness.

**(Epilogue-Those About to Rock)**

_Kadic Auditorium  
1232 hours  
Earlier that day…_

Odd was grinning from ear to ear.

He looked over at Yumi as he strummed on his guitar, crashing through his original song "Mysterious Girl". The addition of Jim on the trombone really hadn't been a bad idea and, well, Nicholas was damned decent on the drums. The song crescendoed in finished, Odd ending in a power slide.

"YEAH!" He screamed. "Good night, Kadic!"

Ulrich rose from behind his keyboard. "That sounded great, guys!"

"Yeah, I know." Nicholas said. "For a bunch of wierdos, you guys do know how to rock. Maybe Sissi was wrong…"

"I don't know, guys." Odd responded. "I felt it was missing something."

"Like what?" Yumi wondered. The door to the auditorium creaked open.

"I don't know, a bass, maybe? Some vocal harmony, or-"

"A double tracked guitar?" Tom cut him off. He had just entered the gym, carrying a thin black rectangular case and a large black box.

"Yeah! Maybe." Odd turned to see the source of the voice. "Wait, _you-"_

"Play?" Tom grinned. Odd nodded. Tom just opened the thin case, pulling out a Sunburst pattern Fender Stratocaster. Tom spun the box around to reveal a Vox guitar amplifier. The rest of the crew just stared.

"Um, well, wanna audition?" Ulrich asked. Tom shrugged and brought his equipment on stage.

"Need some backing drums?" Nicholas asked. Tom nodded, leaned over and whispered in his ear what he wanted. "Gotcha." Nicholas replied. Tom powered on the amp and turned to the rest of the band.

"Feel free to play along if you know the song." He told them. Tom cleared his throat and stepped up to the microphone.

"_CAN YOU SEE THE REAL ME, CAN YA, CAN YA?"_ he belted, before slamming power chords down on his guitar.

"_I went back to the doctor,_" Tom sang, hammering a chord on and off "_to get another shrink.  
I sit and tell him 'bout my weekend, but he never betrays what he thinks. Whoo!_"

Tom spun around and swung his arm in a windmill as he began the chorus, and Nicholas his solo on the tom-toms.

"_Can you see the real me doctor, doctor?  
Can you see the real me doctor? Whoa, doctor!"_

Tom crashed back into the verse chords, adding a few extraneous hammer-ons for embellishment.

"_I went back to my mother,  
I said I'm _crazy_ ma, help me._

_She said, 'I know how it feels, son,  
Because it runs in the family.'_

_Can you see the real me mother, mother?  
Can you see the real me mother? Whoa, mama!"_

Tom chopped his picking up as the chords became staccato. Odd's hands began to follow Tom's finger movements.

"_Can you see, can you see the real me?_

_Can you see? Can you see the real me, the real me, the real me?_"

Tom slid the guitar to a stop as Nicholas went nuts with a backing drum solo. Tom sang over the pounding drums.

"_The cracks between the paving stones look like rivers of flowin' veins.  
Strange people who know me peepin' from behind every windowpane._

_The girl I used to love lives in this yellow house.  
Yesterday she passed me by, she doesn't wanna know me now."_

Tom started back in with the guitar as Jim slid his trombone in ever-ascending notes, following the chord progression.

"_Can ya see the real me, can ya, can ya?_

_Can ya see the real me, can ya? Whoa, yeah!_

_I ended up with the preacher, full of lies and hate.  
I seemed to scare him a little, so he showed me to the golden gate._

_Can ya see the real me preacher, preacher?_

_Can ya see the real me preacher?_

_Can ya see, Can ya see, Can ya see, whoa!_

_Can ya see the real me, doctor?_

_Can ya see the real me, mommmmmmmmmmmmmma!"_

Tom silenced his guitar and held up a fist. The music stopped behind him.

"_Can ya see the real me, me, me, me, me…_"

* * *

**And that's the last chapter in the episode. I've got an original one coming up next for you all, which despite being more difficult, are more interesting IMO.**

**Of course, that chapter will only come if I get reviews, _unlike last chapter!_ Please, everyone, it's fun to write, but it's even better to get feedback. It's like if a band closed out their concert and people just sat there. No applause, no boos, just NOTHING. So, yeah, it's kind of like that awkward feeling. Bad analogy. Anyway, REVIEW! It takes two people to tango, and I'll settle for two reviews for another episode, deal?**

**Ocelot out.**


	16. Echelon: Chapter 1

**Ladies and gentlemen, this is the next installment of my series, and the second-to-last episode in my "introductory arc" of the story. This episode, entitled "Echelon", is sort of my replacement for the "Big Bug" episode in the original show. Thanks for your patience in waiting for this installment to come out. I hope you enjoy it.**

**Also, the song at the end of the last episode was "The Real Me" Written by Pete Townsend and performed by The Who off of the album "Quadrophenia".**

**Stay tuned for a special update after the story!  
**

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**(Prologue: Common Ground)  
**_London  
18 Thurloe Place, Flat 4a  
Two Years Ago…_

Tom sat uncomfortably in the overstuffed leather couch in the apartment's sitting room, practically sinking into the soft cushions. He fidgeted a bit, quietly worrying that the couch would swallow him whole. Brain Towers, sitting across the couch from him, looked similarly uncomfortable. Tom noticed this and smiled, at least his superior was fairing no better.

Finally, the sound of an opening door signaled their relief as Ambassador James Townsend moved quickly into the room. Both Tom and Brian stood, each silently happy to be off the couch.

"So, this is to be my personal vanguard for the next few months, eh?" Townsend chuckled as he sized them up. Tom did the same.

Townsend was fairly tall by English standards, just a hair above six feet, and spoke with a typical London accent. At 57, Townsend was balding and graying, but still managed to maintain a sense of vigor about him. His arms were long, lanky, and thin, which sat in contrast to his nose, which sat rather largely and prominently on his face just under his high, sloping forehead.

"So to speak, sir." Brian answered. "I'm Captain Brian Towers, this is Lieutenant Thomas Walker. We will be in charge of your security detail."

Townsend chuckled. "Ha! I remember the days I used to be the one pulling security detail. Though I wasn't quite as young as you, I think, when I did."

"We've been well trained, sir." Tom replied.

"I'm sure you have. Sorry, forgive my manners, I'm getting too damned soft in my old age. Can I get you two something to drink? I can go run and put the kettle on…"

"No, we're fine." Answered Towers for the both of them. "We're just here to talk some logistics."

"Ah, of course, of course." Townsend replied before a series of beeps came from his Tissot watch. He cleared his throat. "If you two will excuse me for just a moment." He walked out of the room. Tom, curious, followed moments after. He peered through the gap in the door, watching as the Ambassador knelt on an ornate rug, whispering a prayer in what sounded to Tom like Arabic. Tom did the calculations in his head, realizing that Townsend faced the southwest. _So,_ he thought, _the Ambassador's a Muslim._ He walked back and joined Towers.

"Prayer call." Tom told him. Brian raised an eyebrow. "Mecca." He elaborated. Towers nodded.

After a few moments, Ambassador Townsend returned. "Sorry. Religion can get in the way of business sometimes, but it can be oh-so-important, eh?" The two soldiers nodded. "It was interesting to convert to Reali Islam. They can be a very ascetic people, you know." Tom didn't say anything, but thought silently back to the lavish overstuffed couches they had recently vacated. It was as though Townsend read his mind, telling him "Though they do have their small luxuries and vices." He smiled. "So, what would you like to talk about?"

**(Chapter One-Rabbit Hole)  
**_The Factory_  
_Supercomputer Control Room  
2342 hours  
Two years later…_

"Transfer Tom!" Jeremy shouted into his headset mic. Downstairs in the scanner room, Tom swallowed nervously and stepped into the open cylinder before him as Jeremy's voice boomed through the loudspeaker "Transfer Ulrich!" Ulrich flashed Tom a thumbs up as the doors closed, sealing Tom in his scanner. The scanner lit up, and a deep _thrum_ was heard. An ethereal wind began blowing in the chamber.

"Scanner, Tom! Scanner, Ulrich!"

Tom felt a strange sensation, like he was floating. The ambient light inside increased along with the wind. Tom shut his now-tearing eyes. _Too bright._ He thought.

"Virtualization!"

Even through shut eyes, Tom could see a blast of white light, followed by a rush of wind that made his hair stand straight up. A cold, tingling sensation filled his body, then he felt nothing at all.

_Lyoko  
Desert Sector_

Out of nowhere, a pair of bodies materialized into thin air a few feet above the ground. Once the rendering process was complete, Lyoko's sense of pseudo-gravity took over, dropping them to the desert hardpan. Ulrich, experienced with this process, dropped his samurai-clad form deftly onto its feet. Tom, however, was less prepared. He dropped to his knees with a grunt and rolled forward to kill his excess momentum, popping back up on his feet a moment later.

Ulrich chuckled. "Oh, yeah, sorry, watch the landing."

Tom brushed himself off and glared at Ulrich. "Har har." He stopped cleaning himself and looked up, noticing his surroundings for the first time. "Wow…" he gasped. "Whoever made this, just…wow…"

Ulrich smiled again and looked Tom's form over. "Lookin' sharp."

Tom looked down, noticing his outfit. He was dressed in a dark, forest green tunic with matching pants and high black boots. A bandolier was slung across his chest, and Tom's attention turned to the object strapped to his waist. Tom pulled, and withdrew a long, silver Scottish Claymore. "Point taken." He smiled, flicking and swinging his sword around.

"Poser…" Ulrich muttered, strutting across the plain as Tom continued to practice fencing.

Tom, meanwhile, was all smiles. "Military tradition at its finest." He grinned. "I like it." He holstered his sword and gazed down at his breadboard, or lack thereof. "Hmph." He sighed. "Guess I'm still a rookie."

"For the moment, you are." Jeremy's voice boomed out of the ether, startling Tom. "I've only been once, but I know that it takes a little getting used to." Tom just nodded, forgetting that Jeremy couldn't see him. He saw Ulrich walking off down a narrowing strip towards a large, cylindrical object in the distance. Tom ran to catch up to him. "At this point in time, I wouldn't recommend getting into any heavy combat." Jeremy continued. Tom sped up. He wanted to try something. "At least, not until you get used to the—" Tom leapt, soaring high into the air, sailing _past_ Ulrich and whacking the ground with an unceremonious _thud!_ "-Physics." Jeremy finished, grumbling.

Ulrich raced up. "You ok?" Tom nodded and pulled himself up, brushing his uniform off again. "Take it easy, man. You came pretty close to ending your first trip with a dip." He pointed down, and Tom's gaze followed his finger. Tom had landed with his feet dangling off the path's edge.

Tom gazed down, and saw the swirling orange of the digital sea below. He shuddered. "Ooh. And that's a no-no?" Ulrich just nodded. "Ooh." Tom repeated. "Nasty."

"See what I mean by the need to take it easy?" Jeremy called. "Until you know how you operate on Lyoko, try not to pull any aerobatic stunts, k?"

"Agreed." Tom replied. "Let's move on." He nodded to Ulrich, and they continued walking towards the tower as Jeremy and Ulrich explained the finer points of combat on the digital world.

"-and everyone has a unique ability, or power, if you will." Jeremy explained. "Yumi has moderate telekinesis, Odd has the ability of foresight (kind of ironic, if you ask me), Ulrich has the ability to run at high speeds and clone himself," Tom turned, and Ulrich split into three different versions of himself. They all waved before fusing back together into the original. "And Aelita, well, you can ask her herself."

Tom looked up and saw the familiar face of the pink-haired digital girl emerge from the cylinder. He smiled and held out his hand.

"Hi Aelita." He began as she took his hand. "It's nice to finally get a chance to do this in person."

"It is." She smiled as their hands separated. "So what do you think of my home?" She gestured to the area around her.

Tom looked around. "Roomy, but I heard the neighbors are terrible. Also," he pointed to what looked like a set of pipes leading across the plain and into the tower, "what are those?"

"Those are data transport conduits connecting the towers of Lyoko." Aelita responded. "They send data throughout the entire digital world."

"Wow. So I guess the internets really are maid of toobz." Tom commented. Jeremy barked a laugh, Ulrich groaned and rolled his eyes, and Aelita perked an eyebrow up in confusion. "Never mind. Ready to show me the ropes?"

Ulrich's eyes glinted. "Always."

_Kadic International Academy  
Cafeteria  
0738 hours-The Next Day_

Yumi yawned and took a long sip from the cup of orange juice at the group's usual table in the cafeteria. She had briefly considered grabbing a tray from the lunch line, until she saw a 7th grader take a bite out of a particularly charred piece of sausage, only to turn a pale shade of green. She shuddered. _There are definitely better ways to die,_ she mused. At least you couldn't get food poisoning from OJ.

She took another gulp from her glass as she waited for the boys to arrive. She'd heard that Tom had gone to Lyoko for the first time last night, and she wanted to hear the full scoop.

She closed her eyes and stretched her arms backward, driving them into a fully clothed stomach behind her.

"There you guys are." She began, eyes still closed. "I was just about to wonder if you'd ever—"

Yumi was cut off by a distinctive feminine _ahem!_ Her eyes snapped open. Her hands were gripped around Nicholas' shirt, who was giggling like an idiot behind her as Sissi glared at him. Yumi released her grip immediately and swiftly spun around.

"What do you want?" Yumi all but growled.

"To tell you to keep your hands off of my man!" Sissi snapped back.

"If you call Herve or Nicholas that, then sure, you can have them!"

"Of course, Sissi." Herve chimed in dreamily. "You can have me any time." He put his hand on her arm.

"Not _you_, you freak!" SIssi replied, jerking her arm out of his clammy grip. "I mean Ulrich!"

Yumi had just opened her mouth to respond when a familiar voice jumped in from her left. "If you somehow think _I'm_ your man, Sissi, you must have one hell of a skewed idea of a relationship." Ulrich stepped to Yumi's side. "Perhaps measured in all the times we don't hang out, call, or even talk to one another?"

Yumi noticed the rest of the gang snickering as Sissi fumed. "Fine, deny it all you want, but don't think I don't see the lustful gazes you sneak at me during chemistry!"

"Oh, you saw those?" Ulrich faked mock surprise. "Those were meant for Mrs. Hertz. Older women are so much more my style." He smiled, placing a hand on Yumi's shoulder. She blushed a bit as Sissi growled and stalked off, sycophants in tow.

"Nice." Tom chimed in. "Very nice."

"Uh, Ulrich?" Yumi looked over at him. His hand was still on her shoulder.

"Oh." He realized, pulling his hand off and turning a bright shade of crimson. Yumi just smiled back at him.

"Oh, fuck her." Odd was saying as the group sat down. "That arrogant cunt stands about as much chance as Mrs. Hertz does of being Ulrich's girl."

"Yikes!" Jeremy replied. "Anyway, I've always liked Mrs. Hertz. She's a very knowledgeable professor."

"Yeah, and real easy on the eyes, too." Ulrich chimed in, prompting appreciative snorts from the group.

"Oh, come on, let's not get Jeremy fixated on _another_ girl." Tom groaned.

"What do you mean?" Yumi shot an eyebrow up.

"Yeah, what?" Jeremy demanded.

Tom snorted. "C'mon, I've been here a bit over a week, and already it's driving me crazy. You're always moaning in your sleep 'Oh, Aelita, you're so beautiful! Oh, Aelita, I want to touch you.' Ow!" Tom reached down as Jeremy kicked him in the shin. "Fuck you! It's true!" Tom massaged his sore leg. "Seriously, consider investing in a copy of _Penthouse_, okay?"

"No need, just borrow one of Odd's." Ulrich grimaced. "Let's just say he doesn't buy them for the articles, and that hand lotion's not for his—ah!" Ulrich reached down and grabbed his shin.

"_Shut up!_" Odd hissed.

Yumi just stared, mouth agape at the scene in front of her. _Boys…_ she grimaced internally.

"I'm getting some food." Odd grumbled, pulling himself to his feet.

"Hey, get me a bagel while you're up!" Ulrich told him.

"I'll show you where you can stick your bagel!" Odd called behind him as he stalked off to the counter.

"Man, it must be awful being a boarder, huh?" Yumi finally chimed in.

"Yeah well we certainly don't live here for the food, but proximity to certain…activities makes up for it." Tom replied.

"Speaking of that, how was it last night?"

"Awesome." Tom grinned. "Still gotta get used to it, though. Different rules."

"Yeah, Tom nearly sent himself and Aelita into the digital sea with a flying tackle." Jeremy grimaced, recalling the close call. "He's got one hell of a jump."

"Hey, _I_ was trying to push her out of the way of laser bolts from some particularly persistent crankbregots—"

"Kankrelats." The other three corrected him.

"Yeah, those, anyway, I was doing that while Ulrich was freakin' teeing off like he was on the back nine!"

"Hey, you were handling them just fine." Ulrich shrugged.

"That's true. Tom handled himself quite well out there. He's going to be one formidable ally, that's for sure."

"So how'd you get out?" Yumi wondered.

"'S'cuse me?"

"How'd you and Ulrich return to the real world? Jeremy can't just devirtualize you."

"Not yet…" Jeremy added with a sly grin. "But I'm trying!"

"It was fairly poetic, actually." Ulrich smiled, as though remembering a childhood vacation. "Rather than leaving it up to XANA to kill the two of us, we enacted friendship's terminal duty." Yumi looked confused.

"Virtual homicide by disembowelment." Tom responded dryly. "Not at _all_ as cool as it sounds."

"It wasn't that bad."

"Yeah, because you were ready for it!" Tom snapped back. "Some teammate you are…" He growled.

"Teamkilling noob." Odd plunked down with a tray next to Jeremy, tossing a significantly stale bagel in front of Ulrich.

"Whatever…" The group continued to talk and laugh, each secretly trying to ignore the fact that danger could possibly rear its head at any second.

_Humanities Classroom 1a  
1131 hours_

"…while the movement can essentially be traced back to the earliest days of Empire," Giles Fumet was saying, tapping a timeline he had projected onto the screen behind him, "Globalization in its modern form only began recently." He loosened the collar of his usual red turtleneck and continued. "Some put the start of the modern movement as far back as the twenties, which saw a boom in intercontinental travel, allowing the mass migration of millions across the globe. Others point to the ubiquitous nature of air travel as the real jumping off point for this current movement, allowing easy, inexpensive and rapid travel to nearly any place on the planet. Purists point to the advent of the internet, which allowed people from incredibly diverse cultures to instantaneously communicate with one another. If we had to guess, which would we say is the real starting point?" Fumet glanced around the room, his gaze finally settling on a young male clothed in a red t-shirt, black jacket and jeans. "Tom?"

Tom's head perked up. "Well, I'd say all of them, _professeur._"

"_Excèlent._" Fumet grinned. "And why?"

"Because globalization has never really ended. The points you speak of are really just evolutions in a much wider trend that has been continuing for centuries."

"_Oui_. And as we'll see—" The professor was cut off by the shrill clamor of the end-of-period bell. "We'll see when we read Huntington's _Clash of Civilizations_ what impact these changes have had!" He called over the din of departing students. "I want four pages double-spaced of analysis on it by Monday! Don't forget to-oh hell." He grumped to an empty classroom.

Tom, meanwhile, had escaped into the hall as quickly as the other students. Exiting the building into the warm early September sunlight, he smiled and inhaled the fresh air, making his way over to his group's favorite bench. The others hadn't made it there yet.

_Good._ Tom thought to himself quietly. He hadn't had much time alone since he'd gotten to Kadic, and a busy schedule of school, spying, and saving the world left one very little time to relax. He stretched out on the bench and laid down in the soft rays. He let a rare moment of inner peace take over him. He exhaled, closed his eyes, and let every muscle in his body relax.

After a minute, he opened his eyes again, letting the bright sun sear his retinas for a moment before putting his right hand up to block it. That was when he noticed it.

His hand was shaking.

_Huh._ Tom wondered, watching his hand flutter like a leaf in the wind. That's _new._ He inhaled deeply and let out a long, slow breath, relaxed all his muscles, and closed his eyes once more. When he opened them and looked again, it had stopped.

Tom continued to stare at hand, watching as a plane wove a path of contrails through his fingers, thousands of feet above.

"I know it may feel like it, Tom, but I don't think the sky's about to fall down on you." A familiar voice said.

Tom craned his neck beck to look. _Yumi_. "Yeah, well someone's gotta hold it up, huh?" He scrunched up his legs, spun on the bench and sat up. "There you are." He patted the bench and Yumi sat. They both craned their necks up and watched the plane soar on. Another plane crossed behind it, leaving a criss-cross pattern of expanding vapor in the sky.

"It's amazing, huh?"

"Hm?" Tom turned his head to look back at Yumi.

"Everything. The interactions of billions of people every day that shape the world." She explained. "The interconnected web of lives that all support one another."

"Yeah, we're really all in it together. Now, more than ever, the world depends on each other."

"And the world depends on us." Ulrich's voice came from behind them as he, too, looked up to watch the planes.

"Yup, we're regular superheroes!" Odd's overly exuberant voice chimed in. They continued to watch the sky for another few moments until Jeremy showed up, and followed their gaze upward with a sense of confusion playing on his face.

"What, what's going on up there?" He demanded, a small measure of panic in his voice.

"The sky's falling." Tom breathed.

"What? No, seriously, what's up?"

"Planes." Yumi smiled softly.

"Planes?"

Ulrich turned. "Yeah, you know: Pwissshhhh!" Ulrich made the motion of a plane taking off with his hand.

"Really? 'Pwissshhhh?'" Odd scoffed. "More like 'Nereeeeoooowwww- KABOOM!" His hand did a nose dive into the other, clapping together and exploding outward.

"Oh, afraid of flying, are we?" Ulrich chided.

"No, I just prefer trains, like any old fashioned gentlemen."

"I dunno, they say that statistically you have a lower chance of an accident on a plane. I don't know about that, I just can't stand flying." Jeremy explained. "But after what happened this March in Madrid, I'm really not sure I feel very safe on trains, either."

"Come on! That was, like, six months ago!" Odd shot back. "Besides, it was the _subway_."

"Yeah, I'm sure things are a lot safer now. I know my country sure learned from it." Tom spun around. "So what's up?"

"Lemme guess, you're working through lunch on Aelita's materialization program." Ulrich smiled.

"Um, yeah. How'd you—"

"Because it's Tuesday. You always sequester yourself in your room for an hour and show up to gym late _every _Tuesday. Have a little variety, man."

"Well, uh, fine! I'm coming to lunch with you guys, then!"

"That's more like it!" Odd patted Jeremy on the back. "If you're not a fan of fried scrod, the more for me!"

_British Airways Flight 0302  
Somewhere over Southern England, enroute to Charles de Gaulle Airport  
1152 hours_

Maxwell Shortall grinned widely, then suddenly yawned. True, it was a beautiful day to be flying this way, but it was a route he'd flown hundreds of times. Hell, he and the dozens of other aviators relaxing in the BA pilot's lounge in Heathrow's Terminal 3 could do this run in their sleep. To his knowledge, so far only one had succeeded. _And I might join his ranks, if they don't hurry up with the inflight service back there,_ he mentally grumbled. _I'd murder a cuppa right now._

Shortall yawned again when a squawk over his headset drove the desire for tea temporarily out of his head.

"_Speedbird 0302, London Area Control Centre, come in Speedbird 0302._" His air traffic controller for the London area called in his familiar Liverpudlian accent.

"0302 here." Shortall replied. "G'ahead London."

"_0302, you have traffic to your southwest, adjust course bearing 178 and ascend to FL-11,000, acknowledge?"_

"0302 copies." Shortall punched the changes into the autopilot and waited as the plane began its slow ascent. "So who's running afoul out there, London? Iberia again?"

The voice on the other end chuckled. "_Not this time, 302. Looks like it's our lovely French allies mucking everything up. Do us a favor and give them a good kicking when you get there?_"

"With love from me to you, London." Max chuckled as he leaned back in his chair. Growing up in the town of Virginia Waters in the county of Surrey, just a stone's throw from Heathrow airport, Maxwell had dreamed of being a pilot from the first time he saw a 707 take off right over his house, wondering where it was going, who it was carrying. He joined the RAF instead of following his childhood friends to the years of merriment at unie, flying one of the best planes ever designed, the variable-wing Tornado GR4.

Life, however, does not alter itself for fighter jocks. He'd gotten old, wary, and the desire for a private, more peaceful lifestyle beckoned to him. Along with love, of course, who was waiting back in Surrey for a long holiday to the Outer Hebrides.

A knock on the door distracted Max from his reverie. "See who's there?" he asked his copilot, Craig MacMillan.

"Sure, nae loch _aam_ daein' anythin' important, ye lazy dobber." The old Scotsman grumbled as he let the flight attendant in.

"Hey, _I've_ got to make sure this plane doesn't fall into the sea, on account of your fat ass!" Max shot back. Both men chuckled as the flight attendant prepared them some tea.

"Ah, bless ye, lass. Ye ken hoo tae make an auld man's heart smile." MacMillan sighed.

"Really, you truly are a lifesaver. Cheers, love." Max winked at the departing stewardess, catching a good look at her legs as she shut the door behind her. Craig was laughing and grinning a lecherous grin. "What?"

"Braw a body. Tay bad yer guidwife will kill ye ance Ah teel 'er."

"What, just because this job doesn't have the glamour it used to, I have to quit dreaming? Piss off, you tosser."

"_Speedbird 0302, you are now leaving our control area. Maintain heading 175 and stand by for hand off to French air controllers. Just ignore the accent. Acknowledge, over?"_

"Copy that, London. Maintaining present course and speed. Catch you this evening. Speedbird 0302 out."

Meanwhile, across the English Channel, electrical signals raced through miles and miles of wiring. The signals flitted through communications nodes and junctions before arriving at its destination. The signal rendered itself to computer code and latched onto its target, the French Air Traffic Control Mainframe.

Within seconds, the two dozen-odd air traffic controllers watched in horror as their orderly radar screens blinked off, only to be replaced by a single ominous symbol. Moments later, their radios descended into static. The color drained from the ATCs faces as they turned to look at one another in mute terror.

Little did they know that the skies over Paris now belonged to XANA.

* * *

**So, instead of trains, I chose planes. I felt that the original episode took place in too short a time frame for me to establish a decent narrative to go along with it. Thus, I made up my own.**

**SPECIAL UPDATE!  
**

**As a bonus, instead of simply telling you when this story takes place, I've left you some subtle clues within the text itself. For example, I've included a reference in this chapter that you history buffs should be able to use to figure out when _Day of the Eagle_ is set. First person to post the correct answer in the reviews, wins. Big hint: Trains, not planes.  
**

**Ocelot out.**


	17. Echelon: Chapter 2

_Restart and reboot yourself..._

**Fifteen months...damn...Did you guys miss me?**

**First of all, I'd like to apologize for my absence here and leaving you all hanging. Real life, as it is wont to do, overrode my writing plans with a slew of distractions and obligations, first starting with a creative writing course that largely sapped my creative energies, followed by two (count 'em) two jobs that sucked up time and energy like a sponge. Last summer I had gotten to a point where I was actually able to write again, only to hit a wall of writers block that continuously derailed me for six months. It got to a vicious cycle where I would finally get some time and energy to write, only to be turned off by being stuck at the same point. Last month, however, I had a breakthrough, and the old creative juices have been flowing once again.**

**This is, of course, by no means an excuse for my absence. I just wanted to let you know that it hasn't been for lack of trying.**

**Also, I'd like to give a big shout out to reviewer alteris, the first and only one to guess the chronological setting of Day of the Eagle. If you're still out there man, PM me and we can talk about a prize. Additionally, if anyone else is interested, it's posted in the reviews, so check it out and leave one, while you're at it!**

**Finally, I'd like to thank reviewer Aelita Angel for inspiring me to keep going with the series. I kept the review notification in my inbox for seven months to remind me that I still had a story left to finish. Thanks again for your inspiration, and all will be revealed soon...**

**Without any further delay...  
**

**(Chapter 2-Altitude Sickness)  
**_British Airways Flight 0302  
The English Channel  
1207 hours_

"Speedbird 0302 to Paris Regional Control, repeat Speedbird 0302 to Paris, come in, over." Maxwell Shortall called into his headset once more. He turned to Craig. "Still nothing. Awful long time to make the switchover, isn't it?"

"Weel, London did say they hud trooble, reit?" Craig shrugged, but it was obvious that nerves were beginning to show. He'd flown this route for over thirty years, and was intimately familiar with how long these processes normally took.

"For this long though?" Shortall wondered. He glanced out the cockpit window. They were nearing the end of the English Channel, and were out of London's radio range. He sighed. "I'm going to throttle back. We'll give them another five minutes to sort out whatever's mucking them up, then we RTB, right?" Craig nodded. A lot of passengers would be upset at the inconvenience of heading back to Heathrow, but it just wasn't worth the possibility of blundering into another plane at 30,000 feet…

_Paris Regional Air Traffic Control Center  
Meanwhile…_

Chaos.

"American 0120, come in, over! _Directeur_, I have no contact with my jets!"

"Iberia 3440, do you read me?"

"Oceanic flight 0815, respond!"

Center Director Beauchamp pinched his nose and shut his eyes. _Ok, get control of the situation._

"Everyone, stop!" He raised his hand and the din of noise trickled to a halt. He sighed again. "Ok, we've all lost comms with our planes. We need to pull all the plugs, a full restart, right now."

The room erupted in pandemonium once more.

"A full restart? _C'est incroyable, voyons!_"

"_Vous plaisentez!_"

"_Non_. Louis! Trip the breakers, _Maintnent!_" Beauchamp ordered.

Louis, the Center's young IT specialist, swallowed. He moved over to the ATC system's breakers, fumbled twice with the keys to unlock the cabinet they were held in. All eyes were on him as he cut the mains, plunging the room into darkness.

_Speedbird0302  
Moments later…_

"Coming up on three minutes." Shortall grumbled. The French coastline now filled the cockpit window. "Try again?" Craig just shrugged, but sweat was now beginning to build on his brow. Max reached for the transmit toggle.

Just as he was about to open the radio once more, a monotonous French voice broke over the channel. "_Avion-en-vitesse zero trois cent et deux, c'est Paris."_ The voice began. "_Nous avons-_"

"Oy, what language do you think we speak here, Paris?" Max barked. "We're an English carrier, speak English!"

The radio went silent, with only a soft _pip-pip!_ that repeated every few seconds.

"Ah think ye pished heem aff." Craig chortled, relieved that they were back in contact.

"Fuck him!" Max grumbled before the monotonous voice returned, in English this time.

"_Speedbird 0302 this is Paris. We have had a radio and instrumentation malfunction that we are now in the process of correcting. We apologize for the inconvenience._"

"Yeah, you bloody well better!" Shortall growled. "Get your shit together down there Paris! You had me and my crew for a proper fright!"

"_We apologize for the inconvenience._" The voice replied with the exact same intonation. "_In order for our tracking systems to accurately locate your position, we need you to deactivate and resquawk your transponder to frequency 140.48._"

"Fucking hell we will!" Shortall bellowed. Deactivating his plane's transponder was a major violation of aviation regulations. An active transponder allowed the civilian tracking radars to see and recognize him. Military search radars would see them just fine, but civilian systems relied solely on that transponder. Plus, if he changed his frequency, other airplanes wouldn't be able to see him at all…

"_Please deactivate and resquawk your transponder to 140.48 or we shall be unable to effectively vector traffic, and we both know what that could mean._"

Maxwell was bewildered. The voice sounded almost sinister at the end. He was just about to give the controller an earful when Craig clapped him on the shoulder.

"Ah think ye better listen tae heem, lad. Fa knows hoo bad their systems ur bolluxed up."

Max looked his friend dead in the eyes for a moment. "Okay Paris, deactivating and resquawking to 140.48." Craig deactivated the transponder while he adjusted the frequency. After a moment, Max looked up and nodded, and Craig reactivated the transponder. "Done." Shortall announced.

"_Thank you for your cooperation._" And the radio went dead.

"Paris?" Max called.

Just then, the plane wrenched into a steep dive and the engines on the small Airbus throttled up to maximum.

"Whit th' heel ur ye daein'?!" Craig screamed.

"It's not me! It's the autopilot!"

Moments later, the plane leveled off, screaming along at 400 miles per hour just 8,000 feet above the ground. The two crewmembers looked at one another in shock, with one thought on their minds.

_What the hell was going on?!_

_Lyoko  
Ice Sector  
1213 hours_

Some days, it could be a dog's life for artificial virtual constructs.

Aelita sighed as she stretched out in a supine position on the top tier of the ice sector's central way tower. She was supposed to go out and check the area for XANA activity, but sometimes just listening to the radio stations she could capture through Kadic's broadcast antenna was too distracting. She mentally flipped through the frequencies, trying to get a sense of the world outside of her digital prison.

"_et aujourd'hui, President Americain Bush dit que la guerre contre l'Iraq que—"_

"_un nouvel chanson par groupe rock _Green Day_ qui s'appelle—"_

"further fallout from the school hostage crisis in Beslan remains to be seen. For the BBC, from Russia, I'm—"

"_You say, don'tcha know? I say you don't know. I say, Take me out!_"

Aelita sighed. Death, destruction, and rock in English seemed to be the only things ever on these days. At least the last part wasn't so bad.

She continued surfing channels, exiting the commercial range and into other ranges: police scanners, baby monitors, cordless phones.

Her eyes popped open as a little red flag pinged on a transmission in the back of her mind. French voices, talking urgently in English, about a potential disaster. She listened more closely.

"_Tres desole_, American 0120, but we just had a maj_eur_ systems failure about ten minutes ago, and I'm still trying to find my planes. Things are a _terrible_ mess! Hold position until we get things in _propre_ ord_eur_, _d'accord?_"

"_Affirmative Paris, y'all just make sure none else hits us, copy?"_

_Huh._ Aelita thought. She flipped through a few more channels in the same range and found similar conversations. It took her only a few seconds to surmise what had happened. _So something interfered with the air traffic control system?_ She stood and leapt off the tower's top platform. _Maybe I should take a look outside after all…_

_Kadic Academy  
Cafeteria exterior  
1217 hours_

"Man, I don't think I'll _ever_ get used to that stuff." Jeremy rubbed his stomach, which responded with a small _gurgle!_

"Whatever…" Odd grumbled. "I'm really getting sick about these cracks about the school food."

"Hey, just because you're good friends with the chef…" Tom trailed off. "Nah, you're right. Unless I get dysentery from it, it's a-okay in my book."

"Ahh, good, it's settled then." Odd smiled. "By the way, Jeremy, it's time for your favie-fave-_favorite_ class of all time!" Jeremy just groaned.

"What, not a fan of gym?" Tom's eyebrow perked up.

"No, Jim's fine, its gym class I hate." He grumbled.

"C'mon man, you need to get out and run around a bit more." Ulrich clapped his friend on the back. "Didn't your parents ever shove you outside with a ball when you were little?"

"No. They gave me a slinky once. I straightened it."

"And that has something to do with why you hate gym class?" Ulrich asked dubiously.

"Nope, nothing at all. I just love that story." Jeremy sighed and smiled.

Odd was dumbstruck. "What? Did the Grand Master Genius that is Belpois just tell a joke? Oh my God, HE IS ALIVE!"

"Seriously, man." Ulrich grinned. "I didn't think you knew how to do that."

"Yup, I'm full of surprises." Jeremy smiled as they reached their dorm building. He sighed again. "I guess I'd better suck it up and get changed. I know when to accept defeat." With that, he pulled open the door to their building.

_Paris Regional Air Traffic Control Center  
1220 Hours_

Director Beauchamp sighed. After almost half an hour of gut-wrenching terror, it seemed like things were finally getting back under control. There were still a few planes missing from the radar picture, but the air traffic controllers would pick them up in a few more minutes, and everything would be back to normal. _Well, almost._ Beauchamp reasoned. When the Consignes de Navigabilite, the French aviation authority got here, they'd tear the place apart and run a full investigation. Beauchamp winced. He'd had very few incidents on his record, but he couldn't see how this scenario could possibly end without him losing his job…

"_Directeur,_ we have a small problem." One of the ATCs stood in Beauchamp's doorway.

"_Oui,_ what is it?"

"Sir, we've accounted for almost every plane, except for two, Oceanic 815 and British Airways 0302."

"So? They must be around somewhere. Keep looking for them." Beauchamp waved the ATC away.

"But that's the thing, sir." The ATC swallowed. "I've run some calculations and come up with the maximum distance figures for how far they could have travelled during the blackout, and they're just not there!"

"Well they have to be there! Check again! Planes don't just disappear!"

"Sir, if you please." The ATC gestured to the director's computer. After a few keystrokes, he pulled up a map onto the screen. "As you can see, we have accounted for every single active transponder in both of the circumferences, and these planes are nowhere to be found."

Beauchamp's mouth went dry. "So what are you saying, son?"

"Sir, I think these planes have been hijacked and their transponders either scrambled or deactivated. I think the failure of our network was a deliberate attack to throw our systems into chaos long enough to take over these jets. Right now, sir, we have two dark planes loaded with people and fuel loose in the Paris Metropolitan area, and we have no idea how to find them."

Beauchamp slumped in his chair, sweat beginning to form on his brow. _Mon Dieu, this just can't be happening! Not here!_ He cleared his throat. "Okay, I'm going to get on the phone to the _SGDN_ and get them to alert the military. Meanwhile, get in touch with any other jets you have in that area, have them be on the lookout for these two. They'll probably spot planes we already have, but it can't hurt to have them keeping an eye out. If you find either plane or any more drop out, you let me know immediately, understand? Pass that along to the other controllers." He sighed and reached for the phone. A long day just got longer.

_United Nations Special Operations Substation  
Lyon, France  
Meanwhile…_

"Sir!" A tech's hand shot up from a bank of terminals. "I have a positive return on Echelon. French air traffic control reports a possible hijacking of two planes in the Paris metropolitan area and is requesting military assistance. Repeat, I have a possible hijacking in Paris."

The Assistant Special-Agent-in-Charge of the substation leaned over the technician and glanced at the screen, reading the telephone intercept of the conversation. "Okay, looks legit. Let's send it on up the ladder and put it out to all active field agents we have in the area, apprise them of the situation." He clapped the tech on the shoulder. "Good work. Now let's find out who's on those planes…"

_Men's Dormitories  
Room 24  
1227 hours_

With a rustle of fabric, Jeremy finished pulling the sweatshirt over his head. He shrugged as he turned to face Tom, who was dressed in a pair of black nylon workout sweats and white tee-shirt.

"You look like a convict." Tom commented, glancing at Jeremy's uniform grey outfit. "You can lose the sweater, it's pretty nice out."

Jeremy just shook his head. "I get cold. I'm skinny."

"You wouldn't be if you didn't let Odd eat all of your food."

"I have a sensitive stomach." Jeremy shrugged again.

"That may be, but—hey! Quit stalling and tie your shoes! You're only delaying the inevitable."

"Can't I just run a quick scan on Lyoko, just to be safe?"

Tom considered this for a moment. "Umm…NO! Now get ready or we're going to be late, and Jim's going freak out like the time Odd dropped that watermelon off the roof."

"It was a science experiment!" a muffled voice called from across the hall as Jeremy bent to lace up his trainers. Tom fished around in his pocket as his phone made the distinctive triple beep, signifying an incoming text. He glanced down and fiddled around with it for a second.

"Hey man, remember when you asked me if you could do a scan, and I told you 'no'?" he asked.

"You mean like the conversation we had 30 seconds ago?" Jeremy looked up.

"Yeah, that one. Then I told you to forget about it and go ahead and run the scan anyway?"

"I don't remember that part of it."

"It just happened." Tom explained.

"Wait, wha—ahh." Jeremy snapped his fingers as he stepped over to the computer and entered the commands to do an activated tower scan. "What'd that say?" he pointed to Tom's phone.

"It's hopefully nothing, maybe something, and that's about everything I'm going to say about anything."

"You sure are a cryptic fellow, aren't you?" Tom said nothing and continued to stare at his phone, as if willing the letters in the text to change. A knock rapped on the door.

"Ready?" Ulrich poked his head in.

Tom was silent for a second before his head jerked up. "Yeah," he breathed. "Jeremy's gotta stay here for a bit though."

"What? Why?" Ulrich demanded.

"He's doing me a favor. C'mon." Tom shouldered his way through the door. He reached down and rubbed his stomach.

"Fish not sitting well with you?" Odd asked with concern.

"No, it's nothing. Let's go."

"Fine then. Where was I? Right, as I was saying, all I wanted to do was to see the effects of gravity on various objects. I was documenting it, all for science! I had that camcorder, remember?"

"Yeah." Ulrich scratched his chin as they walked, as though remembering something. "I seem to recall some commentary as well, like 'Oh, yeah, this dude's gonna get it big time' right before the watermelon went off the roof."

"As I _clearly_ explained to Jim, I had no idea he was there, and I was referring to a bug that had bit me just off camera!"

"And you had no idea the melon would explode when it hit the ground."

"Right."

"No clue that is would send detritus flying everywhere, with a large part splattering all over Jim?"

"Yup."

"With no regard to the fact that there was a campus-wide fly infestation and the school's water main was broken?"

Odd grinned. "Hehe, you should've _seen_ those things go nuts!" Ulrich stopped walking and glared at Odd. He swallowed. "No, I had no idea whatsoever."

"Finally, you see no reason why having names written on the other watermelons up there, names like Herve, Sissi, Nicholas, and, of course _MY NAME_ might not seem suspicious?"

"I just named them! I'm very sentimental about my food!" Odd stated matter-of factly.

"Shut up, Odd."

_British Airways 0302  
1232 hours_

"Oh Christ, oh Jesus." Capt. Shortall muttered. He and Craig had been working on trying to disable the autopilot when the thing literally reached out and shocked the daylights out of the elderly Scottsman. Now he was passed out and under the watchful care of one of the stewardesses, who was trying to wake him back up.

"I'm afraid he's out pretty cold, Captain." The stew commented, shaking her head.

"I can fucking see that, thanks!" Shortall snapped. He turned back a second later. "Look, sorry love. You've done a great job. You can just leave him be for now, he'll be fine." The young lady just stood there and looked at him. "What?"

"Sir, a lot of people in the back are getting a little nervous. What should I tell them?"

"Tell them that we've had an autopilot malfunction and we're still working on it."

"And what about our special, uhm, guests back there?"

"Tell them exactly the same thing! We don't want anybody causing a panic, the last thing I need is another problem to worry about."

_Dijon-Longvic Air Base  
Northern France  
1234 hours_

Major Alain Girard drummed his fingers impatiently on the throttle of his Mirage F2000 fighter. He sat, canopy closed, on the flight line of the airbase, a few hundred kilometers west of Paris. He opened the radio circuit.

"_Cochon _lead to control, any word on our release status, over?"

"_Negatif_, lead. For the fourth time in as many minutes, the radar operators are still looking for the plane. Just sit tight for a little longer!"

Girard pounded his instrument panel. "That plane could be forty-five minutes from Paris by now! Let me take off and find it!"

"You have no idea where it could be, lead! It could be headed to the opposite end of France, and you'd be headed in the completely wrong direction!" the tower controller retorted.

"At least let me get up in the air! That's less time we waste in stopping these bastards!"

The tower controller sighed. "Stand by, _cochon_ leader."

Major Girard resisted the urge to punch his instrument panel again. He was not going to let what happened to the Americans in 2001 happen again, not to his country. He was just about to open the radio again to try to reason with the control tower when suddenly the operator's voice broke out excitedly through his headphone speakers. "_Cochon_ flight, you are cleared for takeoff on runway 11. We have found the plane, repeat, we have found the plane!"

_About time_. Girard smiled thinly as he taxied onto the runway. "_Cochon _lead to flight, take off, form up in echelon formation and await vector instructions to target. The pigs are on the hunt today." He buckled his flight mask on his helmet and pushed his throttle to full. With little effort, the single-engine, delta-winged fighter leapt into the air, soon followed by two others. The three-plane formation circled around the airfield once before swinging out to the south-east at supersonic speeds. Vectored by ground-based radar operators, _Cochon_ flight would reach their target in under fifteen minutes.

_Kadic Academy  
Quarter-Mile Track  
1241 hours_

"Belpois? _Belpois!_ Did you skip my class again? _Belpois!_" Jim called up in and out of nowhere, completely oblivious to the fact that Jeremy would actually have to be there to hear his cursing.

"Damn, Jeremy's really going to get it this time." Ulrich whispered. Odd nodded. "You're going to owe him big time, Tom. He's going to get detention for this, at least." Ulrich continued.

"I just hope it turns out to be nothing." Tom swallowed.

"Hey, well what's the big deal, huh?" Odd nudged him.

"Look, don't tell anyone, but—"

"Walker!" Jim bellowed. "Do you have a gum problem?"

"Uh, no?"

"Then why do they keep flapping around like that! Does this look like recess to you? And where the heck is your roommate?"Jim demanded.

"He said he had better things to do than to play toy soldiers for the drill sergeant, sir." Tom replied.

"Tom!" Ulrich elbowed him in the side.

Jim, meanwhile, was eerily quiet. "You've got some lip on you, boy." Jim growled. "I've given weeks of detention for less than that, but since you seem so willing to compare me to a drill sergeant, let me met out punishment the way they used to do it in my army days."

"You were in the army, Jim?" one of the students piped up.

"Eh, I'd rather not talk about it." Jim replied. "Never mind, Walker! You go and hit that track for twelve laps. We'll see if that teaches you!"

"Oh, come on Jim!" Odd spat. "He's new here!"

"Yeah!" Ulrich chimed in. "He doesn't know how we—"

"Then you can join him for your failure to properly instruct him on gym class protocol! And guess what? When your skinny little friend Belpois shows up, he's going to join you and finish your laps. I suggest you be a better friend to him and run fast, spare him the pain and suffering. Now go!"

"Great, nice going." Odd complained as they walked to the track.

"Hey, you didn't have to come" Tom shrugged as he stretched. "I'd just rather run than learn to play cricket, that's all."

"And what's the ulterior motive?" Ulrich inquired.

"Man, was it that obvious?" Ulrich just grinned as they began to run. "I wanted to be near my phone in case any news comes in."

"And that would be?"

"About a possible—"

"Hey, less talk more rock, ladies!" Jim called from the side.

"Fine, I'll tell you later." Tom groaned. "In the meantime, "_La Marseillaise"?"_

"_Tu sais?_" Odd's eyes lit up. Ulrich rolled his eyes. "Shut up! We'll do "_Das Deutschlandlied" _ when we're done, right?"

"Only if we can do the "_Star Spangled Banner"_ after that." Tom shrugged. "A-one-two-three…

_Allons enfants de la Patrie,  
Le jour de gloire est arrivé!  
Contre nous de la tyrannie,  
L'étendard sanglant est levé._

_L'étendard sanglant est levé!_"

On the side of the track, the class was breaking down into laughter. Some stood at attention and began to sing along.

_Entendez-vous dans les campagnes  
Mugir ces féroces soldats?  
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras  
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes!_

At this point, all alongside the track had turned to face the flag flying over by the soccer fields in salute, failing to notice as a panting Jeremy slipped out onto the track and waved over the trio. Tom swept over by the risers where his phone sat, scooping it up.

_Aux armes, citoyens,  
Formez vos bataillons,  
Marchons, marchons!  
Qu'un sang impur  
Abreuve nos sillons !_

"Is it bad?" he asked.

"It's bad, let's go." Jeremy responded, and they took off running around the corner of the building as the gathered class sang:

_Aux armes, citoyens,  
Formez vos bataillons,  
Marchons, marchons!  
Qu'un sang impur  
Abreuve nos sillons !_

* * *

**Ah, yes, the French National Anthem. Only the French can take something so violent and make it sound melodic. That's ok, though, because the Germans can take a laundry list and make it sound like they're about to stick a bayonet in your chest. Man, I want to learn German...**

**And yes, "Lost" fans, that is my personal theory of what happened to Oceanic Flight 815. The island is where people who die during XANA attacks go (where they can't be brought back by the RTTP), and the black smoke monster is none other than XANA himself. How's THAT for some crossover fodder? Go, fanfictioneers, GO!**

**Anyway, expect an update on this story soon. Within a week, in fact. Bet on it.  
**


	18. Echelon: Chapter 3

**Back again, as promised.**

**

* * *

**

**(Chapter 3-Executive Decision)**

_Élysée Palace, Paris  
Presidential Residence-Emergency Bunker  
1250 hours_

French President Jacques Chirac shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. His thumb and forefinger drew a line across his eyelids, sighing before he looked up at the other man in the room.

"I don't like," he began, "being down here, Jean-Pierre." The President told his Prime Minister. "I should be up there, showing France its leaders are not afraid. Instead, I'm wallowing in the earth like a rodent scared of his own shadow!"

"Of course, Mr. President." Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin replied, pushing his gold-framed glasses up his nose. "However, it is far more prudent for us to remain here until this crisis is over. Neither of us will do France any good dead."

Chirac sighed again. "_C'est vrai, mon ami._" He stood and looked out the glass panels of his office to the bustling bunker beyond. "Is there any more news?"

"Tracking radar still only has that one plane, British Airways 302. We've tried to raise the plane on radio, but the channel's completely dead. Hopefully once the Mirages arrive we'll be able to deter them."

Chirac cleared his throat. "And how long will that be?"

"Any minute now. Listen," Jean-Pierre moved in close to the nation's Chief Executive. "If they don't stop, we may need to shoot down the plane. We're going to have to make this decision quickly, because by the time the jets are in visual range, the plane will only be 30 minutes from Paris."

"It's much worse than that, Jean-Pierre." Chirac growled. "Not only is that plane licensed to a British carrier, transporting British nationals, that plane is carrying six members of the English Parliament. If we shoot down that plane, we enter a de facto state of war against the United Kingdom."

_Kadic Academy  
Boiler Room  
Meanwhile…_

"It's planes." Tom explained as he, Ulrich, Jeremy and Odd raced through the school's underbelly in an effort to reach the passageway to the factory.

"Planes?" Odd's eyebrow perked up.

"Yeah, XANA has taken control of—one or two, Jeremy?" Jeremy shrugged as he breathlessly dialed Yumi again.

Yumi's phone, however, lay silent on her desk, its battery long since depleted.

"Straight to voicemail." Jeremy cursed, grabbing his side with a stitch. _Man, maybe I _do_ need to get out more!_

"C'mon, stick with us!" Ulrich tugged him along. "How long do we have?" he called to Tom.

"Dunno, text didn't say!" Tom replied as his phone trilled. "Yumi?" he shouted before looking down at the caller ID. "Oh, sorry Major."

"Forgiven, Tom. Now what have you got for me?" the Major inquired.

"It's XANA, sir, without a doubt. He has one or both of those planes you mentioned, I'm not sure."

"Well, I can confirm one, British Airways flight 0302 out of London Heathrow. The _Armee de l'Air_ is due to intercept them any moment now."

"And the other plane?" Tom asked.

"We don't know yet. It's possible that it went down when the French ATC network was disabled, but we can't confirm that. It doesn't matter, 0302 is our primary concern." The Major explained. "Tom, that plane is carrying six English MPs, three each from the Defence Select Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee. They were heading to Paris to negotiate better intelligence sharing between the French _DGSE_ and the English MI6."

"What? Who the hell let them fly commercial?" Tom spat incredulously as the group reached the sewers.

"Apparently it was to send a signal that with combined intel about terrorist attacks, no one would need to be afraid of flying." Tom just snorted. The Major continued. "Listen, if the French don't shoot down that plane it could be 9/11 all over again, with thousands of potential French casualties. If they do, they minimize the damage to their own country but will ignite an international firestorm, an incident of epic proportions that will severely weaken the European Union, and perhaps pave the way for its dissolution altogether. The resulting political and economic damage from the chaos would be impossible to fathom. We cannot let either scenario come to pass. Tom, you and your friends must do everything in your power to stop that plane."

"Yes sir, we're on it. Walker out." Tom hung up as the group continued running. "High stakes on this one, guys." He commented between pants.

"Aren't they all?" Ulrich growled.

"Yeah, why can't we have something nice, simple, and low key?" Odd chimed in.

"Damned if I know." Jeremy grumbled as he dialed Yumi again. "Damned if I know."

_British Airways 0302  
1255 hours_

An eerie sort of calm had begun to take over Captain Shortall. His hands stopped sweating, his breathing and heart rate slowed, and his mind sharpened to a razor's edge, weighing his options, considering his fate. _Just like the war, _he thought. A similar feeling had come over him back in the Gulf, too. After a few nerve-racking sorties, swooping in between Iraqi anti-aircraft fire and dodging their ever-persistent (and inaccurate) Air Force, he came to a sudden conclusion that there were some things that were simply out of his control. Either allied raids had taken out the enemy's ground radar, or they hadn't, and he was dead. Either his wingmen had taken out the Soviet-made pursuit fighters, or they hadn't, and he was dead. Max smiled as he imagined his wingmen's fighters settling on either side of his aircraft, guiding him home.

A deep, rumbling roar, however, brought him to his senses as he realized that those imaginary planes had suddenly become real. They streaked ahead and pulled a sharp bank around to the right, rattling the Airbus as it passed through their supersonic wake.

"Mmf, Whit was 'at?" Groaned a groggy Craig MacMillan, who had finally come around.

"Those," Maxwell swallowed "are Mirage F2000 Air Superiority Fighters. Some flew cover for me during the war." He patted his copilot on the back. "It's good to have you back, Craig, even if we are in the same old mess we've been in."

"It's guid tae be back. Sae whit ur they daein' haur?" He pointed to the planes, which had now settled back on either side of the cockpit.

"Well," Shortall began, glancing at the underbellies of the fighters "looks like they're carrying five MBDA MICA medium range air-to-air missiles, plus two Matra Magic IR-seeking short range missiles apiece. Add to that their twin 30mm cannons, I'd say they're here for one thing."

"What's 'at?"

Shortall smiled serenely. "They're here to kill us, Craig. They're going to shoot us out of the sky."

_The Factory  
Supercomputer Control Room  
1258 hours_

"Transfer Odd!" Jeremy shouted with conviction as he punched in the necessary commands.

"Transfer Ulrich!" He felt a sense of grim determination as he worked at the computer. Tom had recounted his conversation with the Major, and there was no way he was going to condemn all of those innocent people to death. No way.

"Scan—"

"Hey!" A voice interrupted on the scanner room monitor. "Hey, forgetting someone?" It called again.

"Oops, sorry! Transfer Tom!"

Within a few moments, Tom, Odd, and Ulrich stood at the ready in the Ice Sector. Tom shivered.

"It's cold!"

"Um, yeah. It's ice." Ulrich snorted.

"Yeah, but I didn't expect it to feel so…"

"Real?" Odd finished for him. "Is that even air you're breathing right now?"

"Stay focused, guys." Ulrich advised. "Here comes Aelita."

Sure enough, Aelita came sprinting along the narrow isthmus separating their insertion point from the rest of the sector.

"Good thing you're here!" She gasped. "I've found the tower just beyond the ridge, but some kankrelats chased me off before I could get any closer."

"Are you ok?" Ulrich asked.

"Were you followed?" Continued Tom.

"No, they took some potshots but I don't think any of them hit." She shook her head. "They didn't even bother to chase after me either."

"They don't need to." Tom's eyes narrowed. "They only need to keep you away long enough for XANA to bring down that plane. After that, it doesn't matter."

"So, get a movsie on?" Odd suggested.

"That is the smartest thing you've said today." Ulrich nodded. "Tom, you can go ahead and sheaf that. We're going for a run."

Tom put his sword away and took off after the others, who were already making their way towards the mainland.

_Cochon 1  
1301 hours_

"-repeat British Airways Flight 0302, Speedbird 0302, divert to heading 255 and follow vectors to the airbase. Respond, over." Major Girard shook his head. "Command, it's no good. They're not responding."

"_Affirmative, Cochon 1. Keep trying to raise them._" The flight controller in Paris told them.

"Sir, I'm going to move in and try to signal them visually. Stand by."

"_Be careful, Cochon 1. Don't fry the wing with your exhaust."_

"Roger command. 3, cover my position."

_Speedbird 0302_

"This is British Airways flight 0302 to French Air Group, respond!" Shortall grimaced. "Nothing. No response at all. The radio's completely dead." He threw his headset against the instrument panel. He settled his head in his hands. "We're dead."

Craig patted his friend on the back. He was about to offer words of encouragement when one of the fighters swooped in front of them. "Whit is he daein'?"

The captain's face perked up. "They're going to signal us visually!" he reached for a switch on the panel. "Now if I could just—"

Shortall never finished his sentence as electricity arced from the panel, shocking him full in the chest.

"Max!" Craig cried, reaching for his stricken friend, when an additional spark leapt into his arm. Within moments, both pilots lay slumped over their controls unconscious.

_Cochon 1_

"Ok, let's try this again now that we have your-_Mon Dieu!_" Girard gasped.

"_Quoi? Qu'est-ce qu'I c'est passé?"_

"Command, the crew is down, I repeat, the crew is down! The pilots are not in control of the plane, over!"

Back at the emergency bunker, the Air commander swallowed. "Roger that, _cochon 1_, return to your formation." He turned to face the President. "Your orders, sir?"

President Chirac didn't blink. He just stared at the radar screen. "How long will it be before the plane is over a densely populated area?"

"They are 14 minutes from downtown Paris, sir. The minimum safe distance is three minutes out."

Chirac nodded. "Give them ten minutes to divert, then I'll give permission to fire."

_Lyoko  
Meanwhile…_

Tom didn't realize that when Aelita said 'beyond the ridge' she, in reality, meant '_through_ the ridge'.

"Ahhhhh! Dammit, ow!" Tom cursed as the twisting ice tunnel dropped out beneath him again, slamming his rear down hard on the virtual surface.

Odd, meanwhile, was whooping up a storm as he slid down the chute. "Ha ha ha! Yes! When I build my waterpark, it's going to be _exactly_ like this!"

"They are _never_ going to let you build a waterpark!" Tom shouted back.

"Just watch 'em try and stop me!"

"He's right." Jeremy chimed in. "I've done the calculations, and the physics in the real world would literally snap every bone-"

"WAAAAHHHH!!!" Tom screamed as the bottom fell out yet again. He clamped his eyes shut as he tumbled, screaming down the drop, landing spread-eagled with a thud on the frozen ground. "Ohh, man, and I thought jumping out of planes was a rush. Woof!" Tom stood and shook himself off.

"It comes at a price, Tom. You've lost 10 life points." Jeremy announced.

"Shit, already?" Tom rolled his eyes. "Just great. What've we got?" he joined the rest of the group, peering down over a ledge.

"There it is!" Aelita pointed. "The activated tower is right down there!"

"I don't see any--whoa!" Tom's eyes widened as he gazed out onto the expanse below.

Below the icy bluff they stood on, the craggy landscape sloped downward before dropping suddenly off into the digital sea. A thin string of floating icy platforms stretched across the gap to the adjacent land mass. There, in a semicircular depression, sat the hulking cylindrical mass of the activated tower, patrolled by a squad of bloks.

"Uh-uh." Tom shook his head. "I don't like this."

Ulrich stepped up to survey the situation. "Okay, no problem. Leap down these steps here, down and to the right, cross that bridge there, and a straight shot to the tower."

"All while dodging laser fire from those tangos on the ridgeline? We're totally exposed on those islands," Tom turned and gestured down the cliff in front of them, "and our jump off point over here is a perfect place for an-"

Suddenly, in his mind's eye, Tom's vision raced along the path in front of them, down past the curve beyond the warriors' line of site to the last strip of land before the floating islands. There, parked on both sides of the path, sat a pair of bloks.

"AAH!" he stumbled over, falling flat on his rear. "Holy shit!"

"Are you okay?" Aelita rushed to his side.

"C'mon, man! Don't freak out on us now!" Odd looked down at his stricken friend disapprovingly.

"I'm not freaking out." Tom hauled himself up on Ulrich's proffered hand, shaking his head vigorously. "I saw an ambush down the path ahead, two bloks around the curve on either side of the path. They're covering our approach to the bridge."

"Bullshit." Odd scoffed.

"No, it's true!" Jeremy piped in. "Two blips popped up on my screen just after Tom had his vision."

"Tom, looks like we just found your ability." Ulrich nodded.

"Aww, man!" Odd cried. "I thought I was the only one who could have trippy visions on Lyoko."

"Well we don't have time to find another way past them. What do we do?" Aelita asked.

"Don't worry, guys." Ulrich smiled. "I have a plan."

* * *

**Next part should be out soon, and it's about to get real. Review!**


	19. Echelon: Chapter 4

**(Chapter 4-Terminal Velocity)****  
**_Cochon 1 _**  
**_1304 hours_

Major Girard stared daggers of hatred at the Airbus in front of him. His finger did another orbit around the edge of the firing stud that would, with the flick of a switch, send a single Magic Matra short range missile hurtling at Mach 3 towards his target. The 13 kilo fragmentation warhead would take care of the rest...

Girard mentally checked himself and pulled out of firing position. He had seen the terrified looks of the passengers onboard, wondering how many of them even knew what was about to happen.

The plane was eight minutes from the minimum safe distance, and the hijackers (because it absolutely _had_ to be a hijacking) still had made no demands. It was clear as day to him what was about to happen. He gritted his teeth and gripped the joystick tighter. _Why isn't Paris giving permission to fire?_ He screamed to himself. Whoever controlled that plane was going to use it as a human filled missile and bring it down right in the middle of Paris. _Can't they see that?_ The pilot let a tremor of rage escape him before pulling back into formation. A thin smile formed on his lips as he settled on a course of action. If Paris didn't order him to shoot that plane down in the next six minutes, he'd take it upon himself to save his country, and he'd shoot it down himself.

_Lyoko_  
_Ice Sector_  
_Meanwhile-6 minutes to firing range_

"You ready for this?" Ulrich asked Tom, who gazed over the edge of the step uncertainly.

"As I'll ever be." The spy shrugged, taking a deep breath.

"Don't worry. Just stick to the plan, and everything will be fine." Ulrich reassured him.

_Except no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy. _Tom didn't tell him. Instead, he just nodded. "Ready up."

"Jeremy, start the clock." Ulrich and Tom stood at the edge of the drop.

"Okay, guys. Jump in 3, 2, 1, JUMP!" Jeremy shouted, and the two warriors leapt.

At the bottom of the short drop, the icy chute continued its path down to the stepping stones to the adjacent plateau, with other small flat areas like the one they had just been standing on separating further icy chutes.

Tom and Ulrich were racing, luge style, down the hillside as Jeremy's voice called, "Next plateau in 3, 2, 1, NOW!"

With a grunt, they pushed themselves up and sprinted across the short straight.

"Jump, NOW!" Jeremy ordered, and the two warriors dropped. "Next plateau drops into the ambush!"

"Yeah, we know!" Tom called back as he slid on his knees down the slope. He swallowed as he saw the edge loom in front of him, and beyond...

"Get ready!" Ulrich, also on his knees, shouted. They were seconds away from the edge now. Ulrich shut his eyes as he felt the ice disappear out from under him. The warriors landed in a crouch at the bottom of the drop...

...and right into the sights of a pair of waiting bloks, set up above the virtual humans on either side.

Every instinct, every fiber in Tom's being screamed for him to move, find some cover, draw his weapon, just do _something! _He grit his teeth and stared at the floating platform in front of him. "Hang on!" Ulrich hissed, and Tom's crouched form tensed as he heard the whirring of charging lasers.

Ulrich, meanwhile, mentally began his countdown. _One. _ He knew intuitively it took about four seconds for bloks to charge their lasers to full lethality. _Two. _Before they had even begun their slide, Jeremy had done the calculations. He just had to hope Tom held it together. _Three. _

"Now!" he screamed, and the warriors leapt forward...

_Four._

...and the bloks fired, their laser blasts crossing underneath Tom and Ulrich's legs...

...impaling the blok opposite square in its eye with its laser blast.

Tom hit the floating platform with a thud as he heard the monsters explode behind him. "You know," he coughed "they say that the reason we fall is so that we learn how to pick ourselves up? I'm just not getting used to this." he shook his head and dusted himself off for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

"What, not having fun?" Ulrich smiled as he looked back at the plateau behind them-now devoid of monsters. "Wow, that's like the third time that's worked. Unreal"

"Right." Tom snorted as turned to gaze at their destination. "So now all we have to do is-Whoa! That's a long jump." he gulped and peered over the edge.

"What, that?" Ulrich nodded his head towards the next floating island in the chain. "That's nothing."

"Easy for you to say." Tom replied, still gazing at the digital sea below. "Yeesh, that's a long way down."

"Forget about it, let's get going." Ulrich took a few steps back and got into a sprinter's stance. Tom followed suit.

_Okay, no big deal._ Tom thought. He knew almost instinctively that his long jump in Lyoko's pseudogravity could more than easily clear the 10 meter gap between the two islands. It was just a matter of putting the right amount of strength behind it. _I got this, no problem._ He assured himself. _Just try not to think of the life-ending thousand foot drop—Dammit!_ He shook his head, and the two warriors leapt to the sky once more.

Tom smiled as he sailed through the air, Ulrich only a few feet behind him and the platform growing ever closer in his vision. The smile vanished, however, as his feet scraped and skidded against the island's far side. Losing his balance, Tom fell and slid to a stop with his lower body dangling into the abyss. He scrambled with his hands and his legs flailed wildly behind him as he struggled to find some purchase in the icy ground. Ulrich's samurai-clad form appeared before him, and Tom took the proffered hand with a grunt of thanks.

"You've gotta work on sticking those landings better, dude." Ulrich shook his head as he pulled the spy up.

"Pssh, whatever. Your training was totally misleading." Tom spat. "I was expecting a first-person hack-and-slash, not a friggen platformer."

Jeremy's laugh boomed out of the ether, and Ulrich clapped Tom on the back. "Don't worry about it, man. If you fall, Odd'll shoot you out of the sky before you hit the bottom. Speaking of which, where is Odd, anyway?"

"Right here!" Odd waved from the platform behind him while Aelita jumped over to him. "And don't you think we'd better get a move on? You know, before XANA brings down that plane?"

That focused Tom's thoughts like a laser. He'd been so wrapped up in trying to survive in the digital world that he'd completely forgotten about why he was there in the first place. "Shit, he's right. We're running out of time."

"Damn, since when has Odd ever been concerned about time, if it doesn't revolve around the next feeding?" Ulrich wondered as he got back into his sprinter's stance for the jump.

"Hey, I _heard_ that, asshole!" Odd shouted from across the gap. "Now hurry your asses up!"

Tom's eyes narrowed as he gazed at the platform across the way. _Only two more to go…_ he thought.

"Want me to go first?" Ulrich asked. "I could catch you."

"No, thanks man." Tom exhaled slowly "I got this." With that, he shot forward and jumped, dropping to a one-kneed crouch at the island's center. Ulrich looked surprised as he landed next to Tom.

"See? No problem." Tom smiled as he turned to face the next platform.

"Look out!" Aelita called from behind them. Tom's head snapped around and hopped up just in time for a laser blast headed straight for his chest to strike him squarely in the foot.

"Ah, fuck!" Tom cursed as he dropped down to grab his sizzling appendage, narrowly avoiding another laser bolt that whizzed over his head. "Dammit, contacts at my twelve!"

Ulrich looked up. Sure enough, a trio of bloks stood at the edge of the far island, red lasers already scything their way. He whipped out his sword to deflect one mere inches from hitting his face. _Crap, _now _I see what Tom meant by no cover_. He cursed silently and helped the other warrior up. Things had just gotten a lot more interesting.

_Presidential Residence-Emergency Bunker  
Four minutes to firing range_

"That is a negative, Major Girard." President Chirac barked into the handset. "You will hold your fire until _I_ give the authorization! If you so much as arm your missiles, I will _personally_ see you executed for treason, _do I make myself clear?_"

"_But Mr. President,_" the voice over the radio replied, "_they're only four—_"

"I am well aware of where they are, Major!" Chirac screamed. "The situation is far more complicated than you could _possibly_ understand! Shooting down that plane could start a _war_, Major, and that is why I will give them _every last possible second_ to divert before I order you to shoot them down! You are to hold your fire until I give the order, _understood?_"

The line was silent for a moment before Girard's voice came back. "_Affirmative, Mr. President. I am awaiting your orders to fire._"

"You had better." The French president's growl was barely audible, but nonetheless sinister. He slammed the handset back into the cradle, only to have it bounce out again. Hands trembling with rage, he ripped the phone off of the conference table and hurled it into the bunker's concrete wall. The phone shattered, showering the floor with plastic and wires. Chirac stalked over to it and stomped on the remains has hard as he could.

"_Merde!_" He howled. "_God-fucking-damnit!_"

_Cochon 1  
Meanwhile…_

_Treason, my ass!_ Girard gnashed his teeth and shut off his radio as he let out a primal yell. _It's that bastard that should be shot for treason! He's condemning innocent Frenchmen to death!_ He snarled again as he got a grip on himself. Yes, it was probably true that he didn't have all of the information that the President had, but he had a _responsibility_ to save the lives of his countrymen. Sure, the British would probably be angry about the loss of their plane and the 50-or-so of their citizens, but start a _war_? Girard snorted. Chirac was being overly dramatic, and if the president didn't have the stomach to do what was necessary, he would, and the politicians would sort everything out.

Major Girard smiled as visions of glory filled his head. He would be lauded as a hero across all of France, on par with De Gaulle or Napoleon. Sure, the British would demand his head, but that would only contribute to the adulation the entire French people felt towards him. He sighed. He'd never have to buy a drink on his own ever again.

With renewed determination, Girard settled into his ejector seat and checked his watch. _Three minutes_. He thought. _I can wait three minutes to see if Chirac decides to grow a pair, and then I become a hero with the push of a button._

_Lyoko  
1307 hours  
Three minutes to firing range_

Ulrich batted away yet another laser blast, sending it careening back wide right of its sender. His hands were beginning to throb from the repeated impacts. "Tom, we gotta move, now!"

"Yeah, gotcha!" he shouted, shaking his leg. His foot had felt like it had been hit by an electrified sledgehammer. The pain was mostly gone (truth be told he had been surprised there was pain), but a sort of buzzing numbness remained. _Feels like pins and needles on steroids._ He mused before shouting back to Odd. "Odd, covering fire! Now!"

"On it!" the purple feline replied from the island behind him. Dropping to one knee, Odd let off a pair of laser arrows. The first struck one of the monsters, missing its eye but slamming it back several feet, while the other impacted harmlessly on the island's rocky face. The bloks hesitated and withdrew a couple of feet while they analyzed this new threat.

It wasn't much, but it was all Tom and Ulrich needed. Odd watched with admiration as the two warriors cleared the next gap and quickly leapt onto the far land mass and began engaging the disoriented enemies. "Ok, princess, now it's our turn!" He winked at Aelita and the two made their way further down the chain.

Tom and Ulrich stood back to back on the far plateau as the trio of bloks surrounded them. Swords drawn, they dropped into a combat stance.

"Alright, let's do this one at a time." Tom whispered.

"Fortunately, I don't have to." Ulrich replied.

Tom grinned. "Right." The bloks' lasers began to whir. "Ready?"

"Ready."

"NOW!" Tom barked.

They charged, and the bloks fired.

Ulrich had no trouble dodging the blast from his blok. He supersprinted towards the monster and was already behind it by the time it fired.

Tom wasn't so lucky. He leapt at his foe, trying to jump atop the cube and stab it in its far eye, but the monster easily tracked his path through the air and fired, catching Tom in a glancing blow to his right shoulder.

The third blok couldn't decide which target to track, and simply shut off its laser.

Tom crumpled to the ground with a thud behind a rocky outcropping, rubbing his stinging shoulder.

"Tom, be careful!" Jeremy cried like a mothering hen. "You've only got 30 life points left!"

"Yeah, really, is that all?" he snorted. "Sorry, this just stings like hell."

"No worries, just focus!"

Tom stood up and stepped out from behind the rock as the monster rounded on him. His shoulder felt like it'd been whacked by a pepper gun, but he nudged the pain aside. "Fine." His eyes narrowed. "I'll get you with one hand behind my back." Tom tossed his sword to his left hand. "Bring it!"

As if in response, the blok charged its laser and fired.

This time, Tom was ready. He ducked quickly out of the way of the chest-high shot and flipped forward, handspringing up to land on top of the blok. The monster twisted, trying to shake its adversary off, but Tom held on fast. With a grunt, he thrust his sword into the eye of XANA, yelping slightly as electricity discharged from the wound. He leapt off, taking his sword with him while the blok staggered and exploded behind him. He looked up to see what looked like three Ulrichs race around a confused and beleaguered enemy, before one leapt atop the blok to perform the exact same maneuver Tom just did.

"Hey, did you see that?" Tom called raising his sword to the air. "Left-handed!"

Ulrich smiled and was about to reply when a flash of pink caught his eye. Aelita had just jumped onto the island, right into the line of sight of a charging blok. Tom must have seen it too, as he flung his sword to the side and sprinted towards the unsuspecting digital girl.

"Aelita, move!" Ulrich called as he raced towards her.

Time seemed to slow down for Tom. He saw Aelita's shocked expression as she realized what was about to happen. Ulrich was racing to her side, but Tom knew he would never get there in time. The motes of light surrounding the blok's laser swept around once more, growing in intensity as it prepared to deal a killing blow. Instinctively, he dove.

Tom felt the impact almost as soon as he heard the laser fire. He had to have been no more than five feet from the blok when the bolt struck him dead in the abdomen. Strangely, this one didn't hurt as much as the others, more like a soft punch to the gut followed by an intense pins and needles sensation and a strange feeling that he was both falling asleep and waking up at the same time. He was just barely able to see Ulrich tackle Aelita out of the way before his vision faded and disappeared completely.

Odd wasted no time. No sooner had Tom's body finished devirtualizing than he raised his arm.

"LASER ARROW!" he bellowed. The monster spun suddenly to face him and caught Odd's blast straight in the eye.

Ulrich rolled off Aelita as Odd jumped over to them. "Tom…?" She asked confusedly before Odd yanked her up with a purple paw.

"Devirtualized. No time. Go NOW!" he released her and she took off gasping for the tower.

_Scanner Room  
2 Minutes to firing range  
Meanwhile…_

With a loud rumble and a hiss, the scanner tube door slid open, depositing a gasping Thomas Walker onto the metal floor. He put his head on the cool surface and groaned. He felt like he had just run a marathon and every part of his body was not exactly sore, but numb, as though he'd fallen asleep in an awkward position and blood hadn't quite made it out yet. Within moments, though, his accelerated reflexes took over, and he was able to stand with only the slightest bit of nausea. He checked to make sure his Sig was still in its holster, and then checked his watch. An icy pit grew in his stomach as he did the mental calculation. _Oh, God…_he thought.

"Jeremy!" He called as he rushed into the elevator. "How are we doing?"

"Aelita's on her way to the tower now!" the intercom buzzed.

"Good. I'm going to the surface." Tom replied as the massive blast doors began to swing closed.

"Why? What for?"

"I want to see it." Tom's mouth formed a terse line as the doors shut.

_Presidential Residence-Emergency Bunker  
1:45 to firing range_

"Sir, we now have under two minutes until the plane reaches minimum safe distance." One of Chirac's staffers called. The President stared at the screen, willing the red blip to change direction away from Paris. He let out a ragged breath and turned to his Prime Minister.

"I can't do it, Jean-Pierre. I-I just don't know what to do!" Chirac gasped, grabbing his friend's shoulders. "What do I do, Jean-Pierre? What do I do?"

Prime Minister Raffarin grabbed the president back and looked him dead in the eye. "Nothing, my friend. Do nothing."

"Nothing!"

"Yes, nothing." Jean-Pierre smiled, the fluorescent lights of the bunker reflecting off his gold-rimmed glasses. "We can use this, Jacques, just like the Americans did. We can use it to galvanize our people, push through our domestic security agenda and enact strict immigration controls. We can use this to return France to a state of glory, all if we do _nothing_, right now."

Chirac looked horrified. "That's deplorable, sacrificing potentially thousands of French lives for politics! We'd be hypocrites! We'd be traitors! We'd be—"

"Perfectly justified in trying to avoid a war with a NATO ally." Raffarin finished. "We realized too late that the plane had been hijacked, and our fighters were unable to get to it in time."

The President's mouth was suddenly dry. "If that is the only way…"

"Sir?" The staffer piped up again. "Major Girard is in position, he is requesting permission to fire."

Chirac took one last long look at his friend and Prime Minister before replying. "Order the Major to pull his formation back and stand down." The staffer looked blankly back at him. "Do it, son. That is my order."

The staffer nodded and swallowed and relayed the order. The President slumped down into a chair and put his head in his hands.

"May God have mercy on my soul…"

_Cochon 1  
Meanwhile…_

"Repeat your last, air control?" Girard could scarcely believe the words he was hearing.

"_Repeat, Cochon one, you are to hold your fire, disengage and return to base. Acknowledge, over?"_ The voice echoed in his ear.

Girard was stunned. He had thought for _certain_ that Chirac would pull the trigger with the plane mere minutes from his house! He was _right here_, with a plane full of weapons and ammunition and two wingmen armed in the same manner. They could destroy the plane ten times over and still have ammo left to strafe the survivors, _but no! _Instead, not only was he being told _not _to fire, but to stand down and run away? _What in God's name is he thinking?_ Girard thought with a snarl.

He couldn't obey. He just couldn't. Twenty years in service to the republic had instilled in him such values that he couldn't condemn his fellow countrymen to death. He'd killed for them, bombed for them, and had even been shot down and captured for them. _I can't let them down now!_ Girard thought. To be literally a fingertip away from averting a national tragedy, and then just to pull up and go home? He couldn't live with it. He'd go down in French history as worse than Petain. _Worse than a Nazi collaborator? I won't have it!_

Girard nodded his head, finally settled on what he would do. "This is Cochon one to air control," he began, selecting a Magic Matra air-to-air missile from his inventory, "Repeat your last?" He thumbed the Master Arm, and the missile warbled as it tracked the heat signature from the Airbus' massive engines.

"_Repeat, Cochon one!_" The radio operator's voice grew frantic. Girard's finger hovered over the firing stud. "_You are to hold fire—_"

"Roger that, firing fox one!" Girard fired, and the missile leapt away from his port wing and streaked towards its target.

_Lyoko  
Activated Tower  
Moments before…_

Aelita morphed through the tower's wall and skidded to a halt at its center. She felt her feet leave the ground as she willed herself to levitate faster. She knew the stakes, and she wasn't prepared to place the weight of all those lives on her conscience.

Quickly striding to the center of the tower's top platform, she placed her hand on the already materializing screen.

AELITA it spelled, and the letters CODE: appeared with agonizing slowness.

_C'mon, come on!_ She grit her virtual teeth.

LYOKO appeared on the screen, and Aelita let out a sigh of relief. "Tower deactivated." She breathed.

"Jeremy? I've got some bad news." She heard Tom's voice. Even through the speakerphone being picked up by Jeremy's headset mic, it sounded hollow and dry. "We're too late."

"_NOOOOOOOO!"_ Aelita heard Jeremy moan, and a clatter as he collapsed in despair.

"Jeremy, what about the return trip? Jeremy!" she gasped, and was answered only by the sobs of the distraught human.

_North-Central France  
18000 feet AGL  
1310 hours_

The Magic 2 Matra air-to-air missile streaked towards its target. A mainstay of the French _Armee de l'Air_ for almost 20 years, the solid-fueled missile propelled a 13 kilogram warhead at upwards of three times the speed of sound, tracking and following its target using an infra-red seeker in its nosecone to lock onto the heat signature from the aircraft's engines. Most modern fighter aircraft are equipped with complex electronic countermeasures and dispensers of flares to confuse the warhead while the pilot threw the plane into a series of dizzying aerobatic maneuvers to try and shake the lock.

The French-made civilian airliner, however, had none of the above countermeasures, and with no pilots to guide her, the Airbus lumbered like its namesake. It was too easy. The missile had no problem tracking the hot Rolls-Royce engines. It closed on the plane's left wing and exploded.

Contrary to most works of popular fiction, modern anti-air missiles don't destroy their targets by explosive shock or by consuming them in a giant fireball. Essentially giant grenades on a rocket engine, the explosive charge instead shatters the missile's body, sending hot, sharpened fragments of metal hurtling through the air at incredible speeds to shred the plane's airframe and ruin its aerodynamic properties.

The hot cloud of shrapnel quickly expanded outwards, ripping through the thin aluminum wing of the Airbus and severing hydraulic and fuel lines. Through some cosmic twist of fate, the missile's fuse detonated itself far enough away from the aircraft to avoid shattering its wing entirely, but the shredded fuel lines spewed their flammable contents everywhere, and the engine was quickly engulfed in flames.

Meanwhile, other fragments penetrated the airplane's cabin, one missing a stunned passenger's head by inches as it entered one side of the cabin and exited clear through the other side. With an ear-shattering BANG!, the plane explosively decompressed, taking a chunk of the plane's fuselage with it. The passengers screamed as carry-on items, trash, and at least one toupee was sucked out, impacting the already damaged wing. Miraculously, no human bodies followed suit. Only the plane's already low altitude saved it from ripping itself apart under the sudden pressure change.

18000 feet below, on the roof of an abandoned Renault factory, Tom watched in horror as the flaming plane began to twist and dive to the ground. His eyes widened as he calculated its trajectory as it fell from the sky, and his arm moved to bring his phone back up to his ear.

_Cochon 1  
Meanwhile…_

Major Girard grinned as he watched the Airbus tumble downwards, Visions of glory filled his head as he prepared to arm another missile. _By the time I'm finished with it, there'll be nothing left of those terrorists but a smear on a suitcase._ Ignoring the squawks of protest over his radio, Girard licked his lips as his finger hovered over the firing stud once more—

Only to be shook violently by the jetwash of his wingman, who settled down in front of him. A quick glance behind him confirmed that _Cochon 3_ had moved into firing position.

Girard cursed and opened his radio. "Lead to _Cochon_ flight, what the hell are you doing?" He snarled. "Get out of my way so I can finish the job!"

"Negatif, _sir._" Came the reply. "_By order of the President, you are to divert to heading 255 to return to base. If you do not comply within 15 seconds, we _will_ blow you out of the sky, do you copy?_"

"Dammit, 3! Do you realize what I just saved us from?"

"_Ten seconds, lead._" Was his wingman's only response.

Girard howled and snarled, cursing savagely as he brought his plane around to a new heading. This was no way to treat a national hero!

Meanwhile, aboard Speedbird 0203, Captain Maxwell Shortall began to come around. The shock of the decompression had finally jostled him back to consciousness, and now his head rang with buzzing and beeping.

The captain jerked up when he realized that the buzzing was coming from the instrument panel, frantically warning him about the aircraft's damaged systems. Looking up, his jaw dropped in shock as he saw the ground rushing towards him as the plane listed to the left.

His eyes darted around the instrument panel and his mind flew at a mile a minute as he checked the status of the aircraft. Engine 1 fire, left side hydraulic failure, APU failure, autopilot offline, cabin—

His eyes widened. _Autopilot offline!_

He jammed his foot down on the rudder pedal and spun the yoke as far as he could to the right. His heart leapt as he felt the plane slowly begin to respond to his commands. Pulling back on the yoke, he glanced out the window. Maybe he could make it to the Seine—

No. An icy ball formed in his stomach. He was already too low, and his damaged plane was racing towards a set of basketball courts, a large park, a few buildings and…

_No, no, oh Christ no! _It was all he could do to keep from throwing up.

A school. He was going to hit a school.

_The Factory  
Roof  
1311 hours_

"Jeremy! Jeremy, dammit, answer me!" Tom bellowed into his phone.

Jeremy, meanwhile, was sobbing on the control room floor, Tom's words echoing dully in his ears.

"Jeremy, it's going to hit the school!" Tom screamed in desperation, knowing he wouldn't have enough time to get down there himself. "Dammit, Yumi could still be there! We need the return trip now!"

Downstairs, Jeremy's head picked up. _Yumi…_ he suppressed another wail as his red, puffy eyes lit up with determination. Pulling himself shakily back into his chair, he began punching away at the keyboard. _I'm going to save you, Yumi!_

_Kadic Academy  
Main Courtyard  
Moments before…_

Yumi Ishiyama smiled as she exited her European history class. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and she only had one more class until the day was done. She checked her cell phone to see where the others were, only to notice it was dead.

A shadow passed over her, and she looked up in time for a sonic boom to shake the school as a trio of fighter aircraft made a sharp bank overhead. A student screamed, and Yumi's head turned in its direction.

She stood paralyzed at what she saw. With the shriek of a banshee, an airplane, flames issuing out of its damaged left engine, twisted its way towards the school. Her cell phone slid from her hand and clattered to the ground.

Onboard, Captain Shortall howled as he struggled against the airplane's damaged, sluggish controls. He pushed the throttle to full and yanked back hard on the yoke.

Too hard. With an evil shudder and groan, the plane's perforated left wing snapped in half, the stress proving too much for it to handle.

Yumi watched in horror as the plane's wing broke apart. Rolling sideways, the doomed aircraft clipped its starboard wing on the edge of the dormitory building and rolled almost completely over. It may have been her imagination, but she could have sworn she saw the terrified look of the pilot as the plane spun towards her. She closed her eyes and cowered, preparing for death to take her. At least it would probably be over quickly.

In the factory, Jeremy hit the enter key. "Return to the past, now!"

Suddenly, outside, the shrieking of engines stopped. Yumi cracked open her eyes and stood as best she could on her suddenly unstable legs. Her breath came in ragged gasps as she looked at the frozen image of the plane, a mere fifteen feet from its demise.

"Oh, ohhh my God!" She collapsed back to the ground as the full realization of what almost happened hit her. She retched and threw up as a burst of white light penetrated her clenched eyes. "Holy shit." She gasped as the world around her was consumed in light.

**(Epilogue-Wings Level)  
**_Kadic Academy Courtyard  
1137 hours-Earlier that day_

Yumi stepped out of the air-conditioned school hallway and onto the courtyard. In spite of the bright, warm sun, she shivered, her body not quite used to the fact that she had almost witnessed and been killed by a plane crash.

"Oog." She sat down on the steps and put her head in her hands, ignoring the curious looks of the students passing around her. _You're fine, Yumi._ She exhaled. _You're fine. It never happened._

She shook her head to clear it and looked up, seeing Tom's recumbent figure on their favorite bench, staring through his trembling hands at the sky above. She was about to stand and make her way over when she saw his hand ball into a shaking fist and punch the back of the bench so hard it splintered.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She asked, striding over to his side. This time, he didn't move his legs, content to lie there staring at his bleeding—but now still—hand.

"I did it again." He sighed, still looking at his hand. "I fucking failed, _again!_" Tom snarled and sat up, and Yumi sat down next to him.

She grabbed his shoulder. "No, you didn't. We stopped it. Hey, look at me!" She turned his chin to face her, and stared him dead in the eyes. "The return trip caught it in time, it didn't crash. Nobody died. We stopped it."

"It was too close." Tom murmured as she withdrew her hands.

_Tell me about it—I was there._ Yumi didn't say. "They've all been close." She shrugged.

"That's the whole problem!" Tom snorted. "They're all too damn close. Another second or two the other way and France goes to war with England, or thousands of miles are irradiated, or—"

"But we stopped all of them, didn't we?" Yumi cut him off. "Stopping them with a few seconds to spare versus a few minutes or hours, what's the difference?"

"My point is, I'm supposed to be an asset here. I'm supposed to be making sure that these situations never get that far. Instead, I'm feeling like I've been totally tits-on-bull useless." He dropped his head into his palms. "As far as I'm concerned, I've failed twice, and—"

"Failed what twice?" Odd's voice came up behind him.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure Odd's the only one who's taken the same test and failed it twice." Ulrich chimed in. "You actually got a lower grade the second time, didn't you?"

Odd opened his mouth to reply, but Yumi beat him to it. "I don't think Tom's in the mood, guys. He feels like a failure for letting XANA's attacks get so close to succeeding."

"Gee, thanks Yumi." Tom muttered.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down there, man!" Ulrich slid next to Tom. "It's _always_ close with XANA."

"Yeah, if close counted as a failure, we're the biggest crew of fuck-ups you'll ever meet!" Odd chorused with his overexuberant drone.

_A far cry from the superheroes we were._ Tom thought. "But it shouldn't be that way! That's the whole point!" He threw his hands in the air. "Look, I've been training for more than half my life in espionage, special operations, close-quarters battle, asymmetric warfare, sabotage—look, I'm fluent in seven languages and proficient in several more, I'm trained in dozens of martial arts styles, and I can fire, clean and field strip almost 50 weapons. I can wire a building to explode, or make a grenade out of common household products. I can scale mountains, parachute out of planes, SCUBA dive. My bones are reinforced, my reflexes sharpened, and my strength augmented by _six years_ of medical treatments."

"Self call." Odd muttered.

"But none of that seems to matter!" Tom ignored him. "All the strength, all the training, and I still fail every time. It's still that close _every time!_"

"That's not true."

Tom sat up. "What did you say?"

"I said that's not true." Ulrich repeated. "You _did _stop him once. Your first day here, you stopped him from attacking the school with a giant Teddy bear."

_"_What?" Tom was incredulous, but something itched the back of his mind, a dream where... "Wait, did I shoot out a-"

"Rack of lights, yep." Yumi nodded. "They pinned XANA's monster to the ground, and he tried to crush you with his fuzzy arm. Jeremy actually saved you with a just in time return trip."

"Did he really? Thanks, man."

"Don't mention it." Jeremy shrugged.

"The whole point is," Yumi continued, "we're here for each other."

"That's right. And as long as we stick together and don't give up, we'll always make it through." Ulrich shrugged. "We have to." He extended his hand to Tom.

"I guess we do." Tom grabbed his hand and stated to pull himself up before pausing once more. "Wait, so the incident with the, Uh, Teddy bear, was when you-"

"Figured out you were some kind of spy? Yep." Ulrich nodded, pulling Tom the rest of the way to his feet. "Tell you what? Why don't we fill you in on the rest of the story over lunch?"

"Sounds good." Tom replied. "You coming, Jeremy? I heard they have your favorite-fish today!"

Jeremy buried his head in his hands. "Oh no, not again..." he moaned.

"Yeah," Tom smiled, "again."

Meanwhile, 35,000 feet up and two hundred miles north, Captain Maxwell Shortall smiled and yawned. Another slow day at the office.

"Speedbird 0302, this is Paris Air Traffic Control. We apologize for the delay, an inbound from Switzerland had engine trouble. Everything d'accord up there?"

"Roger that, Paris, everything's a-ok here. Got a new vector for us?" Shortall replied.

"Affirmatif, 0203. Come about to bearing 176 and maintain FL 35000. Be advised, we are looking at ten to fifteen minutes delay on the ground while we sort things out, over."

"We copy, Paris. New bearing 176 at FL 35000. Check in with you in 10 minutes." He smiled and signed off. 15 minutes was no big deal, and they'd still be able to make their exit window alright. He'd be back in the UK and on his way to vacation before supper.

Yep, Shortall thought, this is life.

* * *

**Thanks to everyone for sticking with me so far! I can't promise there's more to come soon (Just look at last time), but I certainly can hope real life doesn't get in the way.**

**This isn't over yet.  
**


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